There is no harm whatever in partly feeding infants with the bottle who are at the same time being nursed. If the mother is suffering from want of sleep she will be of more value to her infant if allowed to sleep at night while her child is hand-fed once or twice. When the breast milk is insufficient or poor in quality the child must be fed by hand several times a day in addition to nursing. A hungry, ill-nourished child cries continuously in a fretful manner and nurses irregularly, either taking the breast too long and eagerly or stopping too soon if it cannot obtain the milk without much effort. The sleep is fitful, the abdomen is tender and usually distended with gas. There may be vomiting, and the stools are malodorous and contain milk curds. Sometimes such babies may be given the bottle for the greater part of their food for a few days, until the mother's milk is found to agree with them better, and thus the necessity for absolute weaning may be postponed.

Infants who are brought up to take the bottle once or twice at night, being nursed at the breast in the daytime, are usually more easily weaned when the period for entire hand-feeding arrives.

When a mother who has abundant milk supply is obliged to be temporarily absent from her infant beyond the period when a meal is due, she may beforehand express into a clean glass a little milk which may be kept and fed to the child with a teaspoon while the mother is away.