The symptoms caused in mother and child on account of insufficient secretion of milk are as follows : The mother has sensations of pain in the breasts, and especially in the back between the shoulder-blades. She has headache, dizziness, a certain sensation of " emptiness '' in the head, poor memory, loss of appetite, excessive thirst, loss in weight, heart-palpitation. fatigue, and continuous bloody lochia. The child does not increase suffi ciently in weight (may even lose Nveight), is restless, cries often, and suffers from constipation or diarrhea (the stools being green), flatulence, insufficient or abnormally increased urination, and skin-diseases.
When the breasts are large and the child loses in weight, it is possible that the glands are fatty and give no milk at all. Furthermore, milk which was of good quality at the beginning may deteriorate by reason of changes in the mother's habits. The milk-secretion may be disturbed by increased attention to social duties, by psychical excitement, and by the ingestion of spices, alcoholic beverages, certain vegetables (rhubarb, asparagus, onions, etc.), and indigestible foods or medicines which cause flatulence and skin eruptions. Indigestion caused by the appearance of menstruation during
the period of nursing may also he a contra-indication of nursing. Such a condition may be brought about by carriage or train rides. The child's weight should be taken once a week in order to see whether its weight in creases at the normal rate ; and all conditions which tend to deteriorate the quality of the milk should be avoided. An excessive flow of milk usually goes hand in hand with an inferior quality ; the child remains hungry in spite of over-feeding, and becomes ill.
During menstruation the milk is always poorer in quality, causing the child to suffer from intestinal trouble (green stools) and to become restless. But, as the milk generally improves, it is not necessary to interrupt nursing or to wean the child. There are cases in which nursing may continue without harm during the first half of a new pregnancy. Nursing mothers may become pregnant without the appearance of menstruation. Sexual inter course had, therefore, best he discontinued during the nursing period, it being often the reason for the too early reappearance of the menstrual flow.