The baby should be put to the breast quite regularly from the first day, both to accustom it to nursing and to stimulate the breast to free secretion. After the first two or three days, two-hour intervals between nursings have usually been recommended, and still are by many authorities. The only justification for this seems to be that the stomach capacity of the newborn baby has been found to be only one to one and a half, or at most two ounces, and it would manifestly be impossible for it to take its necessary twelve to eighteen ounces of milk a day unless fed so frequently. If, however, the baby is allowed to sleep as long as it will, it rarely wakes up to demand food as often as every two hours, unless it already has some digestive disturbance due to too frequent feeding, and will more commonly go three to five hours, as obstetrical nurses well know. If it is now weighed before and after nursing after so long an interval, it will be found that it can take, without discomfort or regurgitation, a greater quantity than its stated stomach capacity. This does not subject it to danger of distention, because enough of the milk has found its way beyond the pylorus before the feeding is completed, and in the infant gastric digestion is relatively unimportant. An ordinary breast feeding leaves the stomach empty at the end of one and a half or two hours; a larger feeding requires a longer time. If the baby is fed again at the end of two hours there is no time for the formation of free hydrochloric acid, which is on the one hand a very important physiological check on bacterial growth in the stomach, and on the other hand acts as a stimulant to the secretions of the liver and the pancreas (Pav-low). Three hours would certainly seem logically the minimum interval. More important than any theory is the fact that babies cry less, sleep more, are happier, have less colic and indigestion that is often interpreted as hunger, and gain as much or more when fed on an average of every four hours than when fed every two or even every three hours. One long interval of eight hours at night can usually be instituted at the start, or at least very early. It is especially easy to begin this regime at the start, when the baby sleeps almost constantly, and the mother can see how well it works, as compared, as is often observed, with a former baby that was fed every two hours, and was colicky and restless, and, perhaps, finally deprived of the breast altogether because "the milk did not agree with it." At a later time, when the baby is "spoiled," and has been accustomed to the two-hour interval, it is harder, but even more indicated, to get the cooperation of a mother who thinks her baby is "hungry even now." Not the least benefit comes to the mother herself, and so again to the baby, on account of the greater liberty and more rest and sleep, for an overworked, anxious mother with a fretful baby is a poor nurse. If the child oversleeps there is no occasion to waken him, and he will soon demand his food quite promptly at about the accustomed time.

The length of time of each nursing usually can be left safely with the normal baby. It nurses till it is through and drops off, requiring from five to twenty minutes, depending upon the vigor of the baby, the amount of milk, and the freedom with which it flows. It should not commonly be roused to renewed efforts, simply because it has nursed only five or ten minutes. Overfeeding, vomiting, and indigestion can thus be easily induced. Normally, a child gets the greater part of a twenty-minute nursing in the first five minutes. If in doubt, the scales will readily decide whether it is getting enough. Only one breast should be given at a feeding, and the breasts alternated in successive feedings, except possibly during the first few days, and in weak babies, who are not yet strong enough to get the last of the milk, and in overfed babies, where it is desirable to give only the weakest milk and get the breast to secrete less voluminously. If this is not done the child will soon learn to leave the first breast when the milk begins to come hard, and so the breast remains unemptied, and the greatest stimulation to milk secretion is omitted, with the natural result. For the same reason one breast should not be used more than the other, because of sore nipples in the latter, or because it seems to have less milk.

The nipples should be washed with boiled water before and after nursing. The danger from fissures and sore nipples, and so of inflammation of the breast, is greatly lessened and their cure greatly facilitated by the longer intervals between feedings.

The washing of the baby's mouth is best omitted altogether. It is not only ineffective, but the mouth cleanses itself, and thorough washing frequently causes ulcers in the roof of the mouth, and other abrasions of the delicate mucous membrane that form a favorable site for thrush.

Water should be given freely from a spoon until the baby nurses well; after that, from a bottle several times daily throughout the whole period of maternal nursing. If it gets an abundant supply of milk, it needs but little water, but the bottle should be given nevertheless, to accustom it to that method of taking food. If this is not done, the baby will often refuse to take a bottle at all after the sixth or eighth month, when weaning is begun. To feed a well baby of that age from a spoon or a cup is very unsatisfactory, and in case of sickness it might prove a serious handicap.

The mother should lead her usual life, avoiding all extremes of excitement and exertion, and should get enough outdoor exercise and an abundance of sleep.

Her diet should differ in no way from that to which she is accustomed. It should be well balanced, nutritious, varied, and abundant, because she is nourishing two. The restrictions in diet so common in nursing mothers are not only useless, but even harmful, because the monotony of the diet often destroys her appetite. Equally objectionable is the forced feeding to which mothers with fine blooming babies so often subject themselves.