Last, nursing

[owlfish]

[Poll #1862232]

Comments

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

Seconded for both.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I don't know. You (or, at least the medical profession) would say, "nursing mothers" for breastfeeding mothers. (Or, for that matter, animals still feeding their young.) Then there's 'wet nurse'.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

But you also employ a 'nurse' for general healthcare - and not just babies. What about someone who is 'nursing' a teenager in hospital? Or is employed as a nurse for an elderly or disabled person?

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

But the question was, specifically, about 'nursing' a healthy baby. So teenagers and the elderly do not apply, It's a word with several meanings.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

To me the word has more than one meaning and the context would tell you which sense. I agree that it's generally used by the medical profession as a synonym for breastfeeding, but I would also use it for generally cuddling and soothing baby. So you (and "you" could be male or female) might ask if you could, "Nurse the baby for a bit," meaning that you want to cuddle it.