This is my third instalment from "The Care and Feeding of Children" by L. Emmet Holt M.D. (1917 edition) "Does the nervous condition of the mother affect the milk? Very much more than her diet; worry, anxiety, fatigue, loss of sleep, household cares, social dissiaption, etc., have more than anything else to do with the failure of the modern mother as a nurse. Uncontrolled emotions, grief, excitement, fright, passion, may cause the milk to disagree with the child; at times they may excite acute illness, at other times they may cause a sudden and complete disappearance of the milk. "Does menstruation affect the milk? In nearly all cases the quality of milk is lessened during the period so that the infant is not satisfied and may not gain in weight. In many cases the quality of the milk is also affected to such a degree as to cause slight disturbances of digestion, like restlessness, colic or some derangement of the bowels. In a few, attacks of acute indigestion are excited. Is the return of menstruation a reason for stopping nursin? Not usually; as a rule both functions do not go on together. But if the child is gaining regularly in weight between the periods, nursing may be continued indefinitely, although it may be well to feed the infant wholl or in part during the first day or two that the mother is unwell. What symptoms indicate that a nursing infant in well nourished? The child has good color, sleeps two or three hours after nursing, or, if awake, is quiet, good-natured, and apparently comfortable. It has normal movements of the bowel and gains weight steadily. What symptoms indicate a scanty milk supply and that an infant who is nursing is not properly nourished? It does not gain weight and may even lose weight. It no longer exhibits its usual energy and playfulness, but is either listless and indifferent or cross, fretful and irritable, and is apt to sleep poorly. It grows pale and anaemic and its tissues become soft and flabby. When the milk is scanty it will often nurse a long time at the breasts, sometimes three quarters of an hour, before stopping. At other times it may take the breast for a moment only. and then turn away in apparent disgust. The only sure way of telling how much milk a child is getting is to weigh it before and after nursing, four or five times a day; the child need not be undressed for this purpose." Tomorow I will write on what a mother should do if she does not have enough milk and how to tell that a mother's milk disagrees with her baby. Stay tuned for part 4. Nancy Sherwood LLLL, IBCLC- Perth, Australia