Advice to a wife on the management of her own health : and on the treatment of some of the complaints incidental to pregnancy, labor, and suckling.

  • Q52148313
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Advice to a wife on the management of her own health : and on the treatment of some of the complaints incidental to pregnancy, labor, and suckling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    take into which mothers and nurses are led by the ap- pearance of a swollen breast ; it is not evidence that the gland can secrete freely, and it is in this turgid state that the excessive irritation tells most severely. This hyperaemic [plethoric] condition seems to be a step toward inflammation, and the irritation supplies that which is wanting to complete the process. If a woman will only remove the child from the breast di- rectly the act of sucking produces pain, she may be pretty sure to avoid abscess. So long as the milk can be obtained there is no pain. The above most valua- ble advice deserves great attention, and ought to be strictly followed. 693. How is a patient to know that she is about to have a gathered bosom?—There are two forms of gathered breast; one being of vast and the other of trifling importance. The first, the serious one, consists of gathering of the structure of the gland of the breast itself; the latter, merely of the superficial part of the bosom, and ought to be treated in the same manner as any other external gathering, with warm poult 694. In the mild or superficial kind of gathered bosom, the mother may still persevere in suckling her child, as the secreting portion of the breast is not at all implicated in the gathering; but in the severe form, she ought not, on any account whatever, to be allowed to do so, but should instantly wean her child from the affected side. The healthy breast she may still continue to nurse from.