Practical observations on the diet of infancy and childhood / by Thomas Herbert Barker.

  • Barker, T. Herbert (Thomas Herbert), 1814-1865.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on the diet of infancy and childhood / by Thomas Herbert Barker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    intends to suckle her infant, some hours may elapse (or even days) before the secretion of milk is ready. Here it should be remembered that the infant is very well able to bear a fast of moderate length; but in this interval the object of the nurse is, gene- rally, to pour down the child's throat some indi- gestible (indigestible to it) food, such as gruel or panada, which commonly produces oppression, flatu- lence and pain. The infant complains and shews uneasiness in unmistakeable language, which excites the nurse to farther interference with nature. A quantity of dill water or such-like reputed cor- rective is now added to the undigested gruel. The bowels are moved, or vomiting relieves the system. This process is repeated, again and again, until the mother's milk is secreted, and the child obtains the only nourishment which can perfectly agree with its delicate digestive organs. But, even now, the con- troversy of the nurse versus nature is frequently maintained with all the perseverance of prejudice. It is now, perhaps, imagined that the supply of natural nourishment is scanty, or that the frequent application of the child to the breast may exhaust the mother. As a remedy for these supposed evils, the gruel is repeated, and followed by the above- named symptoms, until the child becomes emaciated and suffers under constant diarrhoea. The mother also suffers, being disturbed by the cries of her in- fant ; and in such a case it is often hinted to the