themselves to such considerations as the relative merits of two-hourly
and four-hourly feedings--important points in their way, but less
important than this.

The matter is complicated in two other ways. In the first place, the
nervous baby, just because he is so active and wakeful and restless,
is apt rapidly to lose weight and to have an increased need for food.
The restlessness is generally attributed to hunger, and this is true,
because hunger is soon added to the other sensations from which he
suffers, and like them is unduly acute. It is difficult not to give
way and to provide artificial food from the bottle. Yet if we do so we
must face the fact that these restless little mortals are quicker to
form habits than most, and once they have tasted a bottle that flows
easily without hard suction, they will often obstinately refuse the
ungrateful task of sucking at a breast which has not yet begun to
secrete readily. The suction that is devoted to the bottle is removed
from the breast, and the natural delay in the coming in of the milk is
increased indefinitely. At the worst, the supply of milk fails almost
at its first appearance. We must devote our attention to quieting the
nervous unrest by removing all unnecessary sensory stimulation from
the baby. He must be in a warm cot, in a warm, well-aired, darkened,
and silent room, and the necessary handling must be reduced to a
minimum. Sometimes sound sleep will come for the first time if he is
placed gently in his mother's bed, close to her warm body. If he is
apt to bungle at the breast from eagerness and restlessness, it is not
wise always to choose the moment when he has roused himself into a
passion of crying to attempt the difficult task. So far as is possible
he should be carried to the breast when he is drowsy and sleepy, not
when he is crying furiously, and then the reflex sucking act may
proceed undisturbed.