=Weaning.= One advantage in giving the baby a supplementary bottle once a day, is that it paves the way for weaning, when the time comes to make this change. Under ordinary conditions, the mother begins to wean her baby about the eighth or tenth month. Having started by replacing one breast feeding, daily, with a bottle feeding, she gradually increases the number of bottles given daily until the breast feedings are discontinued by the time the baby is eleven or twelve months old. There are exceptions to this general rule, of course, and under any conditions the weaning should always be directed by a doctor, for the baby may suffer seriously unless the change in food is skillfully made. If the mother’s milk is satisfactory and the baby is doing well, it is often considered wise not to discontinue the breast feeding entirely, during the hot summer months even though the weaning falls due at this time. It was formerly deemed advisable to wean the baby for any one of several reasons, but at present the only indications for this step which seem to be generally accepted by the medical profession, are: pulmonary tuberculosis, acute infectious diseases in the mother and pregnancy. Menstruation was long regarded as incompatible with satisfactory nursing, but it is now known that if the mother is taking proper care of herself and is in generally good condition, the impoverishing effect of menstruation upon the milk is usually for the duration of the periods only. It may be necessary to supplement the breast feeding with suitably modified cows’ milk during menstruation, but the baby should be put to the breast regularly, just the same, for if the stimulation of the baby’s suckling is discontinued, the temporary reduction in the amount of the milk secreted will probably become permanent. The state of pregnancy, however, is different, for though some women nurse a baby satisfactorily for some months after becoming pregnant, it is not considered advisable to subject any woman to the combined strain of pregnancy and nursing. Moreover, the mother’s milk is usually so impoverished during pregnancy that the nursing baby suffers in consequence. =Drying up the breasts= used to be a great bugbear. Lotions, ointments and binders were employed and often a breast pump as well. Various drugs were given by mouth and the mother was more or less rigidly dieted. It is true that some of these measures are still employed and are followed by a disappearance of the milk. But at the same time, the breasts dry up quite as satisfactorily when none of these things are done, provided the baby does not nurse. It is not known what starts the secretion of milk in the mother’s breasts, but certain it is that absence of the baby’s suckling stops it.