I consider it to be of great importance that the infant of the
wet-nurse should be, as nearly as possible, of the same age as your
own, as the milk varies in quality according to the age of the
child. For instance, during the commencement of suckling, the milk is
thick and creamy, similar to the biestings of a cow, which, if given
to a babe of a few months old, would cause derangement of the stomach
and bowels. After the first few days, the appearance of the milk
changes; it becomes of a bluish-white colour, and contains less
nourishment. The milk gradually becomes more and more nourishing as
the infant becomes older and requires more support.

In selecting a wet-nurse for a very small and feeble babe, you must
carefully ascertain that the nipples of the wet-nurse are good and
soft, and yet not very large. If they be very large, the child's mouth
being very small, he may not be able to hold them. You must note, too,
whether the milk flows readily from the nipple into the child's mouth;
if it does not, he may not have strength to draw it, and he would soon
die of starvation. The only way of ascertaining whether the infant
really draws the milk from the nipple, can be done by examining the
mouth of the child _immediately_ after his taking the breast, and
seeing for yourself whether there be actually milk, or not, in his
mouth.

Very feeble new-born babes sometimes cannot take the bosom, be the
nipples and the breasts ever so good, and although Maw's nipple-shield
and glass tube had been tried. In such a case, cow's
milk-water-sugar-and-salt, as recommended at page 29, must be given in
small quantities at a time--from two to four tea-spoonfuls--but
frequently; if the child be awake, every hour, or every half hour,