Empress Dowager Cixi entered the palace at the age of 26 and died at the age of 75, which lasted for nearly half a century. She never stopped drinking human milk. One of the seven things that Empress Dowager Cixi must do when she gets up is to drink tea. Cixi usually drinks milk tea mixed with human milk and milk. Empress Dowager Cixi likes human milk so much that the harem has become a common practice. According to the regulations of the Qing dynasty, 40 wet nurses should be selected in the palace every season, which is called "sitting on the milk mouth"; Choose 80 wet nurses in the palace and call them "acupoints" as backup. When the "sitting nipple" fails to provide human milk in an accident, it will be supplemented by the "finger nipple".
Empress Dowager Cixi was also strict with her nurses. Lactating mothers are young women who have just given birth to their third child for about 3 months. They are healthy, and their age is controlled between 15 and 20 years old. Their child is still alive. Change a batch of new people every quarter to ensure the quality of milk. Besides, this young woman must have a good appearance. Empress Dowager Cixi thinks that ugly women's milk will also make her ugly. In order to ensure sufficient milk, the diet of wet nurses is specially designed by court nutritionists and doctors, with chicken, duck and fish, but less salt and soy sauce.
When Empress Dowager Cixi breast-feeds, the breast-feeding mother should wash herself three days in advance, put on a special red coat on the day of breast-feeding, be in high spirits, show her nipples, and kneel beside Cixi's bed for Cixi to suck.