=Giving the Baby His Bottle.= At feeding time, the bottle should be taken from the refrigerator, the stopper removed and a sterile nipple taken up by the margin and put on the bottle without touching the mouthpiece. The milk is brought to a temperature of about 100° F. by standing the bottle in a deep cup or kettle of warm water and placing it on the fire. The temperature of the milk may be tested by dropping a few drops on the inner side of the wrist or forearm where it should feel warm but not hot. This dropping will also indicate if the hole in the nipple is of the proper size to allow the milk to drop rapidly in clean drops but not to pour. If the hole is too small, the drops will be small and infrequent and the baby will be obliged to work too hard to obtain it; while if the hole is too large the baby will feed too rapidly and may have colic as a result. If the hole is too large the nipple will have to be discarded; if too small or if there is no hole, one of the proper size may be made by piercing the nipple with a heated darning needle or small steel knitting needle. [Illustration: FIG. 48.—Proper position in which to hold baby and bottle during feeding. ] [Illustration: FIG. 49.—Holding the baby upright immediately after feeding, and gently patting his back to help him bring up air in order to prevent colic. ] The baby’s diaper should be changed if it is soiled or wet before he is given the bottle and he should be held comfortably on your arm, in a reclining position, while you hold the bottle with your free hand as shown by the nurse in Fig. 48. The bottle should be inclined sufficiently to keep the neck full of milk; otherwise the baby may draw in air as he nurses. He should be kept awake while feeding but he should be allowed to pause every three or four minutes in order not to take his milk too rapidly. Not less than ten nor more than twenty minutes is devoted to a feeding, as a rule, and if the baby refuses a part of his milk, it should be thrown away; never warmed over for another time. After being fed, the baby should be held upright against your shoulder for a moment or two, as in Fig. 49, and ever so gently patted on the back to help bring up any air which he may have swallowed. He should on no account be rocked nor played with after taking the bottle, but should be placed gently in his crib, warm and dry and left alone to sleep. Turning him or moving him about even to the extent of changing his diaper at this time may cause vomiting. The evidences of satisfactory and unsatisfactory feeding in the bottle-fed baby are about the same as in the baby who is fed at the breast, except that the gain in weight on artificial food may be a little slower and less steady than on maternal nursing; the stools have a characteristic sour odor; are a little lighter in color and may contain white lumps of undigested fat; are usually dryer than in breast feeding and may be formed, in even a very young baby.