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Thus it appears that of the deceased infants there were (stated to be)—
Fed artificially 67
Nursed by mothers entirely 88
Of the 167 infants to which the list relates, 29 were stated to have been nursed by the
mothers during the night.
In fifteen cases whisky and brandy had also been given—"by the doctor's orders"—in
amounts varying from 3 drops to half a teaspoonful in each bottle of food, for variable periods.
The infants were generally fed from bottles with long indiarubber tubes—a fertile source of
injury to child-health, from want of cleanliness and consequent pollution of the food supply, milk
especially. On this diet question, the Inspectors remark " various patented articles are favourite
foods, even for infants of two or three months; " whilst sopped bread, arrowroot and cornflour
are frequently administered to children under six months on the plea that " the milk does not
satisfy." In one case, of a child of eight months that had been weaned, at ten days, owing to
failure of the mother's milk, the diet was "nursery biscuits and milk, gravy and potatoes, a drop of
tea and anything going." In yet another, a baby of six months was seen, in a perambulator
in the street, sucking something which proved to be a fish's head.
The conditions which appear to be responsible for many infantile deaths include, unhealthy
homes and surroundings; want of maternal care and natural food; improper feeding—with
farinaceous products unsuited to the digestive capacity of the infant, condensed skimmed milk
loaded with cane sugar, etc., etc.
The Inspectors found plenty of evidence of ignorance on the part of mothers, but did not
form the opinion that there was much intentional neglect or unkindness. Several such cases,
however, were recorded not only by them, but also by Inspector Males, who on various occasions
has had to call to his aid the services of the Inspector to the National Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children, a body to which I am indebted for many illustrative cases of neglect of
children.
It is probable that some, at least, of the many premature births are brought about by the
mothers continuing at work when they should be resting at home; and the frequency of the deaths
of children in the first few weeks of life may not improbably be due to the too early resumption of
work after the confinement, with consequent neglect of the children in the critical early days of
their brief existence. The law forbids return to work at workshops and factories, until four weeks
after confinement, but there is reason to believe that too often poor women resume their place at
the washing-tub or ironing-board at a much earlier period.
Infantile mortality will always be a main factor in the general death-rate, but the question to
be considered is—Whether the amount of it is not greater than it need be, and whether it may not
be reduced ?
* Information subsequently obtained leads to the conclusion that very few weaned infants, comparatively, are fed upon
anything like the proper amount of fresh whole-milk.