As hunger stimulates the gastric and salivary glands, so the sight of the child arouses some emotional center in the mother, which starts the milk, and the mouth of the child provides an additional stimulus of great power. About fourteen ounces is secreted by the seventh day, and after the second month the daily average rises to three or four pints. Milk secretion is favored by drugs and foods that raise the blood pressure and diminished by substances that lower the blood pressure. There may be too little milk in the breasts, and if so, the child will lose weight daily; also the child will waken before nursing time, fret, refuse water, but greedily seize the nipple if it is presented. It will continue to nurse long after its time is up and cling and cry when removed. The breast itself may seem flabby and loose, and no milk, or very little, can be pressed from the nipple. Normally, the breasts feel full and tense, both to patient and nurse, just before feeding time. The real test, however, is in taking the weight of the child before and after feeding. Where the milk is insufficient, the scales will not vary, and after a few repetitions the nurse can be certain. An infant should be handled as little as possible after feeding lest the milk be vomited. [Illustration: Fig. 116.—Proper method of taking rectal temperature.] =Temperature= of the newborn child varies from 98° to 99° F. It should be taken morning and evening, or oftener, if complications are suspected. The temperature often goes up on the third or fourth day, and may stay up for several days. This phenomenon is called by some a _starvation_ or _inanition fever_. The temperature may go to 106° F. and the rise is generally associated with a hot dry skin, dry lips, weak pulse, restlessness, and great prostration. The fontanelle may be sunken and the cry sinks to a fretful, feeble whine. It is important that the fever should be recognized and treated, since the condition may terminate fatally. The _etiology_ is obscure. The fever should not be confounded with pyogenic infections, for these rarely begin before the fifth or sixth day. The _treatment_ is simple. Give water regularly every two hours by mouth, and rectal flushings of normal saline twice daily. The symptoms rapidly subside if the child is properly nourished. Hence the breasts should be inspected and the child weighed before and after feeding. Usually the milk is poor and scanty. If the temperature does not soon fall the child should be put to another breast or artificial feedings should be instituted. CHAPTER XIX THE CARE OF THE CHILD (Cont’d) =Heart.=—The heart tones while in the uterus may vary between 138 and 150 per minute, but when higher than 160 or lower than 120, danger is near. After delivery, the heart runs from 130 to 140, and during the first year gradually drops to 115, approximately.