View report page

32
on at the end of December. 253 children have used the milk in 1907.
The reasons for which the mothers and guardians of these 253 children
sought the Depot were as follows:—
Mothers who had no breast milk or an insufficiency
of milk 74.9
Death or illness of mother 13.1
The breast milk not agreeing with the infant 7.0
Infants unable to suckle or similarly defective 2.0
The mother at work 3.0
100.0
It may be said that 32 2 per cent. of the children on the Depot were
introduced by the Lady Sanitary Inspectors of the Borough Council,
26 8 per cent. were introduced by medical practititioners in the
Borough, 13.0 per cent. of the cases were sent to the Depot by St.
Bartholomew's Hospital, and the remainder from neighbours' recommendations
(28 0 per cent.).
The children belonged, with very few exceptions, to the poorer
classes. Twenty-two per cent. of the children came from homes of one
room only, and another 61 percent. from two-roomed homes. So that
not less than 84 per cent. lived in homes of two rooms or less, and
very few indeed lived in homes of four rooms or more. It may be
taken, therefore, that the children came as a rule from poor homes.
Another point of importance is that 70.5 per cent. of the children
admitted were either in poor health or absolutely ill at the time of
admission, and some of them were practically dying. The remainder
(29.5 per cent.) were in good health. Almost without exception the
children were being wholly fed by artificial means before they came on
to the Depot.
Turning to some of the results of this milk feeding, it may be
desirable to deal with two matters, namely, the general improvement
and increase in weight of the Depot-fed infants, and the saving in life
which has been achieved.
First as to increase in weight. The importance of the weight of an
infant as a criterion of its health and progress is well known. Indeed,
the weight is often the only criterion as to whether the infant is
improving in health or not. At birth the average weight is about 71bs.;