depends upon the complete and regular emptying of the breast. The
breasts of all mothers will secrete milk if strong and vigorous
suction is applied to the nipple by the child. If anything interferes
with suction, the milk does not appear or, if it has appeared, it
rapidly declines in amount. The mother's part is to a great extent a
passive one, provided that she can supply one essential--a nipple that
is large enough for the child to grasp properly. Within wide limits
what the mother eats or drinks, whether she be robust or whether she
has always been something of an invalid, matters not at all. A frail
woman may naturally not be able to stand the strain of nursing for
many months, but that is not here the point in question. We are
dealing only with the establishment of lactation and with the milk
supply of the early days and weeks which is of such vital importance
for the child. If the mother is ill, if, for example, she has
consumption, we may separate her from the child in the interests of
both; but if this is not done, she will continue to secrete milk for a
time as readily as if she were in perfect health, and the breasts of
many a dying woman are to be seen full of milk. Mothers are too apt to
attribute the disappointment of a complete failure to nurse to some
weakness or want of robustness in their own health. This is never the
reason of the failure, and the fault, if the mother has a well-formed
nipple, is generally to be found in some disturbance in the child.
Prematurity, with extreme somnolence, breathlessness from respiratory
disease, nasal catarrh, which hinders breathing through the nose,
infections of all sorts, are common causes of this failure to suck
effectively. But perhaps the most common cause of all is the
inhibition from nervous unrest of that reflex act of sucking which
works so well in the placid and quiet child. It is a point to which
too little attention is paid, and mothers and the books which mothers
read commonly neglect the nervous system of the child and devote