View report page

mothers are most in need of instruction. The doctors might be asked to give them in
those cases in which they think such instructions would be useful. The addresses of the
midwives practising in the Borough are now or will be shortly available, since the London
County Council, owing to the new Midwives Act, will have to keep a register. I am
afraid, however, that this method would not prove reliable in actual practice.
"Organisations in the Borough which employ district visitors, nurses, etc., might
also be pressed into service for the distribution of these instructions, and in many of
these could be accompanied by further verbal recommendations. This is pre-eminently
a work in which the services of one or two female sanitary inspectors would prove most
useful.
"In order, however, that the present children in the Borough may benefit by these
instructions, each family in the Borough should be supplied with one of these cards
immediately they are ready."
Instructions on the Feeding and Care of Infants and Young Children.
Food.
The natural food for children for the first seven or eight months of life is breast
milk. It is BY FAR THE BEST FOOD, and NO form of artificial food is equal to it.
For the first week or two the child should be fed every two hours during the day,
and less frequently at night, so as to give about ten feedings in the twenty-four hours.
From this period up to two months the intervals should be extended to 2½ hours
during the day and longer at night, so as to give in all eight feedings in the twenty-four
hours.
From the end of the second month onwards the intervals should be three hours in
the daytime, and the number of feeds six or seven in the twenty-four hours. About
the eighth month the child should be gradually weaned, but this should not be done
during the months of July, August and September, when diarrhoea is prevalent.
The child should not be put on the breast every time it cries, but a little water or
thin barley water, sweetened, may be given with a teaspoon.
The nipples should be washed with warm water immediately before and after
feeding.
While nursing, the mother should live on plain diet, largely vegetable. Stout or
any alcoholic drink is not only unnecessary, but frequently harmful. The best drinks
for the mother during this period are milk or barley water taken about an hour before
feeding time.
If the mother from any cause is unable to feed the child for the whole period above
mentioned she should attempt it for a shorter period, and if she has insufficient milk
she should try to feed the child twice or three times a day, and supplement this by
artificial feeding as directed below.
If the mother is unable to nurse the child at all, some form of artificial feeding
should be resorted to. This should consist of milk for the first seven or eight months,
and the best for this purpose is COWS'MILK (NOT SKIMMED OR SEPARATED).
This should be given warm, diluted with water, or barley water, in the proportions as
mentioned in the table.
A lump of white sugar or a teaspoonful of sugar of milk, and a teaspoonful or two
of limewater should be added to each feed.
Feeding Table.
Age of Child.
Barley
Water.
Total
Amount
each feed.
Milk.
No. of
Feeds in
24 hours.
Tablespoonfuls.
3
During first fortnight
1
2
10
2
3
5
9
„ second „
2½
6
8
„ second month
3½
„ third „
4
4
8
7
5
4
9
7
„ fourth „
7
4
11
„ fifth „
6
„ sixth „
8
12
6
4
9
13
6
„ seventh „
4
„ eighth „
10
4
14
6
12
4
16
6
„ ninth „
Pure
milk
16 and
upwards
Over twelve months
The above quantities are suited to .the size and capacity of the stomach of a child of
average size, and SHOULD NOT BE EXCEEDED except in the case of exceptionally
big children.