Mary Dickinson's milk was failing. Some women of the town would occasionally nurse the Dickinson infant, but there were other mothers in the town with insufficient milk, so there was little to spare for him. When a woman who had recently given birth, but had no milk, gave her child to Mary Dickinson to nurse, Mary did so, although she had little milk herself. This turned out to be to her benefit, however, as the Indians started giving her fish to eat so that she could produce enough milk for the Indian new-born, as well as her own child.