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27
(c) Occupation of the Mother.—Whilst 7.5 per cent. of the mothers
of Finsbury children in general are occupied away from home, 11.5
per cent. are thus absent from the homes where infant deaths have
occurred. That also is a slight rise but it is not marked. The
occupations of the mothers of both dead and living infants are
substantially the same.
No.
Of
Infants.
Feeding.
Mothers' Work.
Condition of Home.
Breast only
Breast, etc-
Cows
Milk only.
Condensed
or Artificial.
Not Fed.
None.
Away from
Home.
Intermittent.
Some home
work.
Clean.
Fair.
Dirty.
374 133 49 108 44 40 230 43 55 40 244 102 28
% 35.8 13.1 28.8 11.7 10.6 63.1 11.5 14.7 10.6 65.2 27.2 7.5
(d) Method of Feeding.—But when we come to inquire into feeding
there is a very different result. Of the mothers of the living
children 80 per cent. breast-fed their infants. Of the mothers of the
dead infants only 35 per cent. breast-fed their children. That is a
marked and decisive point of difference. It should not be forgotten,
however, that the majority of the investigations into deaths
took place, as a rule, at a later period in the twelve months than
similar investigations into births. As many as 108 of the dead
infants were fed only on cows' milk and were not suckled at all;
44 were fed on "condensed" milks and other artificial "foods only."
On the whole, therefore, it may be said that the broad difference
between the treatment which the living infants and the dead
infants have received in Finsbury is a difference of feeding.
But we must go a step further back than that to explain the
deaths from prematurity, marasmus and convulsions. Most of
these deaths would appear to depend not wholly upon feeding, for
the infants only lived a few days, but upon the physical conditions
of the mother. From either point of view the 'problem of infant
mortality is mainly a question of motherhood.