WHAT IS ITS AGE?--If the lying-in month of the patient has scarcely
expired, the wet-nurse to be hired ought certainly not to have reached
her second month. At this time, the nearer the birth of the child, and
the delivery of its foster-parent, the better: the reason for which
is, that during the first few weeks the milk is thinner and more watery
than it afterwards becomes. If, consequently, a new-born infant be
provided with a nurse, who has been delivered three or four months, the
natural relation between its stomach and the quality of the milk is
destroyed, and the infant suffers from the oppression of food too heavy
for its digestive power.

On the other hand, if you are seeking a wet-nurse for an infant of
four or five months old, it would be very prejudicial to transfer the
child to a woman recently delivered; the milk would be too watery for
its support, and its health in consequence would give way.


THE NURSE HERSELF SHOULD NOT BE TOO OLD!--A vigorous young woman from
twenty-one to thirty admits of no question. And the woman who has had
one or two children before is always to be preferred, as she will be
likely to have more milk, and may also be supposed to have acquired
some experience in the management of infants.


INQUIRE WHETHER SHE IS EVER UNWELL WHILE NURSING?--If so, reject her
at once. You will have no difficulty in ascertaining this point; for
this class of persons have an idea that their milk is renewed, as they
term it, by this circumstance, monthly; and, therefore, that it is a