I think you nurse children only when they are sick.
Hi tedmc, that is one of its meanings. Weaver67 is using it correctly to mean something else. Nurse, has the general sense of "to look after, carefully", whether or not the person being nursed is sick or not.
A mother can nurse her child in at least three other ways: (
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/nurse )
1. To give it a cuddle when it is upset.
2. To breast feed it.
3. To take care of it as it grows.
When I hear the term used, as Weaver67 used it, I just naturally think of it as generally meaning "taking care of", or "looking after".
So in Weaver67's sentence, to me, it just naturally means, "As for sleep, do you think that mothers
taking care of their children days and nights away do not dream of having a good night sleep one day?"
But it could mean any of the three meanings listed above in the dictionary, and possibly more. Without further information, we can't be sure.
We can even nurse a cup of tea, or other drink, by just carefully holding and not drinking it.
The more I write these things, the weirder I think we must appear! :lol: