It stands without saying that the cry of hunger must be relieved by giving food; but this is the very worst thing to do under other circumstances, for it both breaks up good habits and produces serious mischief. The pain of colic and the discomfort of indigestion are chiefly due to the accumulation of flatus resulting from the fermentation of food. Mothers soon learn, and unfortunately infants too, that the breast milk temporarily relieves suffering. This it does in the same way as any other warm liquid; but, unlike a simple fluid, milk only adds more material to the already fermenting contents of the gastro-intestinal canal, and every nursing is soon followed by more pain, until between crying and sucking and sucking and crying, the infant's life is passed in misery, if not cut short altogether. Instead of continuous feeding, the plan for relief is to decrease the quantity of food by increasing the intervals between nursing and by abridging the time of lying at the breast.

After the sixth week the interval between nursings may be slowly increased until, by the fourth month, it reaches three hours. During this period, also, the time of lying at the breast may be gradually lengthened to twenty minutes, for the quantity of milk secreted and the child's appetite and capacity for food are all augmented as the days pass by. At the end of the sixth month, feeding every fourth hour suits some children well, but as a rule the three-hour interval must be adhered to from the fourth month to the end of lactation.

Many authorities recommend additional artificial feeding, alternating with nursing, after the sixth or eighth month. This plan of mixed feeding is perfectly proper, if the baby ceases to gain strength and flesh while on the breast. If otherwise, the maxim of not interfering with any course that is doing well is as applicable here as elsewhere, and the breast may be relied upon entirely until the time comes for weaning. Should additional nutriment be required, the food must be selected with due reference to age and prepared in the same manner as in regular bottle-feeding, and employed only to supplement the breast milk, which must be conserved as long as possible, since even a little natural food is of great value in insuring proper growth and development during the earlier months of life.

It is a good plan, however, even when breastfeeding is progressing satisfactorily to begin, about the fifth month, to substitute one nursing daily by a bottle; this allows the mother more freedom for rest and recreation, and, at the same time, accustoms the infant to being artificially fed, and increases the ease of weaning when this becomes necessary. Another means of facilitating the substitution of the bottle for the breast is to begin early to use it in giving the drinking water, which every baby requires three or four times daily.

The date of weaning cannot be fixed for all cases, since it must depend upon two conditions - the health of the mother and the development of the child. When the former continues to be robust and the child steadily grows and gains flesh, lactation can be prolonged until the tenth month. Usually if persevered in longer, the mother's strength begins to fail, her milk is lessened in quantity or becomes poor in quality, the child's nutrition suffers, and he grows pale, thin and flabby, and may develop the disease known as rickets. Notwithstanding the age, the beginning of summer is a bad time to wean an infant, and unless the indications for withdrawing the breast are very urgent, it is better to postpone the change until the hot months have passed, resorting, in the meantime, to artificial feeding as a supplement to any deficiency in the maternal supply.

Change in the manner of feeding may be accomplished gradually or suddenly. In gradual weaning, about four weeks are required to prepare for the absolute withdrawal of the breast. For instance, if suck be given every three hours, or six times a day, there should be, during the first week of preparation, one artificial feeding and five nursings daily; during the second, two and four; during the third, four and two; during the fourth, five and one. Then the breast must be entirely withheld. Carefully prepared milk-food, administered from a bottle, is the best substitute. At the age of ten months a mixture that ordinarily agrees well is:

R. Cream..............

Milk...............

Sugar of milk........

Water..............

1 tablespoonful (fid. oz. 1/2). 8 tablespoonfuls (fid. oz. 4 ). 1 teaspoonful. 3 tablespoonfuls (fid. oz. 1 1/2).

This is to be poured into a perfectly clean bottle, warmed in a water-bath, and taken through a clean, plain rubber tip. Should the quantity (six fluid-ounces*) be insufficient to satisfy the child's appetite, the milk and water may be increased until the mixture measures eight fluidounces.

When such accidents as fever or disordered digestion, with vomiting and diarrhoea, occur during the period of preparation, the number of artificial feedings must be reduced, or the breast resumed until the disturbance be passed; then the course may be begun again and carried to its completion.

* One fiuidounce = two tablespoonfuls. One fluidrachm = one teaspoonful.

Usually there is little trouble in weaning infants in this way. Sometimes they become fretful under the change and may refuse food entirely for a day or more; but a little determination on the part of the mother and the cravings of hunger will soon overcome this difficulty.

Occasionally the child refuses to suck milk from a bottle or to drink it from a cup or spoon - in fact seems to object to any form of liquid food except that drawn from the mother - while at the same time he is eager for bread or other solid food. Under these circumstances prepare for each meal a moderate portion of either rice pudding or junket. After these have been taken for a day or two, add to each meal a little milk, reducing the amount of pudding or junket; stir the whole together and feed from a spoon; next day still further reduce the solid and increase the liquid, and so proceed until finally a taste for milk is cultivated.