"Adapted" or "humanized" breast-milk substitutes based on cows' milk are manufactured according to directives from a publication issued by the Ministry of Agriculture. The accepted recommendations for the daily intake (RDA) of nutrients is adjusted to the neonates' relatively low tolerance and provides a certain margin of safety in case of illness and slight inaccuracies in preparation. The recommendations are, however, often based on animal experiments, studies of pathological conditions etc. because the needs of the neonate are not known. There is a fundamental difference between RDA for chemical energy and various nutrients as the energy requirement is stated on the basis of average values while the requirements for specific nutrients are gives as upper and lower limiting values. In addition to nutrients, a long series of hormones, enzymes and antimicrobial factors are transferred to the infant via breast-milk. The nutritional significance of these is entirely or partially unknown. It is thus impossible to give the bottle-fed infant a diet which is quantitatively and qualitatively identical with that of a breastfed baby. Nevertheless, experience has shown that bottle-feeding usually proceeds satisfactorily. Galactosaemia and certain forms of medication in the mother constitute absolute contraindications to breast-feeding while phenylketonuria, certain maternal infections are relative contraindications to breast-feeding. Mothers should be prepared for breast-feeding already during pregnancy but in the cases where the mother cannot, should not or does not wish to breast-feed, it is important to counteract any feelings of guilt, neglect or incompetence and, on the other hand, give her thorough training in artificial feeding of the infant.