WEANING (from wean, AS. wenian, Goth. wunjan, OHG. icenjan, wennun, wenan, Ger. ge wohnen, to accustom; connected with Goth. zrunan, to enjoy, OHG. wini, friend, Lat. Venus, goddess of love, Skt. ran, to hold dear, wish, win). The substituting of artificial food for breast milk, in the ease of an infant. This proc ess should lie gradual. if sudden, the mother suffers from painful breasts, and the child suffers from indigestion. Weaning should not he ac complished in hot weather, if it can be postponed without harm. Nursing should be continued in normal cases for nine months after birth. If it be protracted beyond this limit the vitality of the mother is apt to suffer, and the child is apt to lose weight from subsisting upon insufficiently nourishing food. A stationary weight for a few weeks or a loss of weight in the child is a signal that nutrition needs supplementing, and weaning must be accomplished, even though the child seems well and is natural. Pregnancy in the mother is an imperative reason for wean ing. It is wise to accustom every child to take water from a bottle after it is a few months old, before the time for weaning approaches. Sud
den weaning may become imperative because the mother has no milk, or becomes the victim of an acute disease, such as pneumonia, typhoid. fever, Bright's disease, or tuberculosis. inflam matory disease of the breast is also a counter indication for nursing. During a short acute illness, the breasts may be emptied at regular intervals with a pump, while the child is fed from a bottle, and breast feeding may be re sumed upon the mother's recovery. If the mother has no milk, the child must be weaned as soon as the breasts have been emptied of colostrum. It is safe to wait for two days for the milk to appear in the breasts. When wean ing is sudden, reason must be employed in the use of artificial food. That is, a five-month old child must not be put at once on a diet for that age, but gradually brought up to it after beginning with food which is proper for a child of a month old. See INFANTS, FEEDING OF.