London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Croydon 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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14
careful adaptation to the digestive capacity of the individual child, is
apt to induce intestinal catarrh or other digestive disturbances, which
render the bottle-fed babies unduly susceptible to diarrhœal disease.
The ill-effects of bottle feeding during the first six months are clearly
brought out in the tables printed below.
The following are the particulars as to feeding of infants dying
during the first six months of life:—
METHOD OF FEEDING.—Method of Feeding during the first six
months of life of children who survived, and of children who died
between one week and six months old. *Deaths of infants under one
week have been excluded because it is unlikely that methods of feeding
can have been responsible for a fatal issue in so short a time.
TABLE A.
| Infants dying from Diarrhœal Diseases. 0-6 months.* | Infants dying from other than Diarrhœal Diseases. 0-8 months.* | Infants surviving G months. | Total investigated. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breast alone | 9 | 63 | 953 | 1025 |
| Breast supplemented by Cow's milk another foods | 4 | 29 | 241 | 274 |
| Condensed Milk | 8 | 7 | 47 | 62 |
| Other prepared foods | 1 | 6 | 38 | 45 |
| Cow's Milk | 10 | 24 | 119 | 153 |
| Number investigated | 32 | 129 | 1398 | 1559 |
Method of Feeding expressed in percentage.
TABLE B.
| All infants investigated under 6 months. | Infants dying from Diarrhœal Diseases. | Infants dying from other than Diarrhœal Diseases. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast alone | 65.8 | 28 | 49 |
| Breast supplemented by Cow's milk or other foods | 17.6 | 13 | 22 |
| 3.9 | 25 | 5 | |
| 2.9 | 3 | 5 | |
| 9.8 | 31 |