Often they persist in
nursing a child until it is eighteen months old--almost always until
they become pregnant again.
Prolonged nursing hurts both child and mother, it is said. In the
child it causes a tendency to brain disease, probably through
disordered digestion and nutrition. In the mother it causes a strong
tendency to deafness and blindness. If a child is nursed after it is
twelve months old, it is generally pale, flabby and unhealthy, often
rickety, one authority points out, while the mother is usually
nervous, emaciated and hysterical. If pregnancy occurs under these
conditions, the mother not only injures her own health but that of the
next child, often developing in it a weakness of constitution which it
never overcomes.
Moreover, prolonged nursing has been found to be unreliable as a
contraceptive. We know this upon good authority. It should not be
depended upon at all.
In the same class is the so-called "safe period" referred to in
another chapter. For many women there is never any "safe period."
Others have "safe periods" for a number of years, only to find
themselves pregnant because these periods have ceased without warning.
One of the most frequent of all the mistakes made in recommending
contraceptives is the advice to use an antiseptic or cold-water
douche.
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