There can be no regular rule followed for all. Some authorities hold that fifteen- to twenty-minute feedings at four-hour intervals during the day, with one feeding at night, are sufficient, but it depends on the child. Some babies’ stomachs are smaller than others, and some do not nurse regularly, but play and are inattentive to the nursing. In either event the child will not get sufficient nourishment at four-hour intervals. The intelligent mother can determine what is best. * * * * * [Sidenote: Water] In breast-feeding, as well as in most of the formulæ for bottle-feeding, there is an allowance for an amount of fluid that, under ordinary circumstances, satisfies the baby’s requirements. Additional water is often necessary, especially during the hot weather when the body heat is regulated through evaporation from the skin. The most effective means of promoting perspiration is the giving of water. This, however, should not be done to excess. Eight ounces for a 10-pound baby, given in divided doses during the day, will be sufficient. It is best to give the water when the stomach is nearly or quite empty. It should be boiled and cooled and should be given by the bottle as the child will then take at intervals all that its thirst requires, and the danger of choking as a result of too hasty swallowing is avoided. * * * * * [Sidenote: Normal Development in the Breast-Fed] The growth and general condition of the child will, of course, be influenced by the quality and quantity of the milk. The birth weight of 7 to 7-1/2 pounds is usually doubled by the end of the fifth month and trebled by the end of the year. The average gain is from 5 to 8 ounces a week during the first few months and from 2 to 4 ounces a week the last few months of the year. If the mother’s milk is deficient in any way, the child becomes fretful and loses weight, or the weight remains stationary. In such cases the physician usually examines the milk to determine its quality and advises some means of improving it, or in some way adding to the baby’s food the element in which the mother’s milk is lacking. The physical condition of the mother often affects the baby’s nourishment, and besides resorting, temporarily, to means for improving the quality of the milk, she should build up her general vitality through regular exercise for the spine and the vital organs, deep breathing of fresh air, and regular rest. While a scanty food supply will diminish the flow of milk, overloading the stomach at meal time and taking quantities of rich food between meals, as so many nursing mothers, think is necessary, usually does little to increase the quantity or improve the quality of the milk, but often results in an accumulation of superfluous flesh and disturbed digestion, which quickly affects the child.