BREAST-FEEDING 151 



case had they been milked by hand. This proved a source of 

 considerable financial loss to the farmers. 



The same causes operate in the human species in reducing the 

 period of lactation. 



Unless the gland is emptied completely the functions will not 

 be maintained. The child should not be fed so frequently that it 

 is not hungry when fed. Unless it is hungry it will probably not 

 empty the gland. The practice of feeding a baby every two hours 

 during the day and every four hours at night during the early 

 months is unfortunately still too common in this country. 



The work of Leven and Barratt, and also of Tobler and Bogen, 

 upon the time required for digestion in the infant's stomach, 

 suggests that this organ is seldom emptied in less than two 

 hours after a meal, hence there is no rest for the stomach of the 

 infant which is fed every two hours. These authors found that the 

 progress of digestion in the infant's stomach could be studied with 

 the X-rays without the addition of bismuth to the food. Various 

 quantities of milk, both human and cows' milk, were given to the 

 infants in the amounts and dilutions which are generally employed 

 in the feeding of infants. It is an interesting point that in both 

 sets of observations a high fat content was found to lengthen the 

 time required for digestion. 



It is well known that the end milk of the cow contains the bulk 

 of the fat. This is also the case in human milk (cp. Chap. II, 

 pp. 23-24). Hence the child who is fed too frequently to be 

 hungry not only does not give the full physiological stimulus 

 to the gland, but obtains only a fraction of the available fatty 

 portion of the food. 



Frequent feeding will therefore have a deleterious effect both 

 on the infant and on the milk supply, tending to cause both a 

 shortened period of lactation and to induce unsatisfactory nutritive 

 conditions in the child owing to a deficiency of fat. A vicious 

 circle is thus set up which leads to weaning, as the mother usually 

 becomes convinced that the child is not satisfied with her milk. 

 Night-feeding is also detrimental to the mother, as it prevents 

 her from receiving the restful sleep which she needs. 



Numerous observers have investigated the amounts of milk 

 given by a mother during the whole period of lactation. 1 It is 

 found that the amount given gradually increases during the early 

 weeks, remaining practically constant until just before the end 

 of lactation. Diagram 3 (see next page) shows (i) the rise and 

 maintenance of the quantity of milk given, together with the 

 weight charts of the children, and (2) that good weight charts 

 may be shown by children taking different quantities of milk. 

 There is clearly a considerable power of adaptation between the 

 needs of the individual child and the function of the breast. 



1 Cp. figures in Appendix A. 



