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14
registrars. After March 9th, the source of information that a
birth had occurred at any address was usually the notification
received under the Act. In the notified cases it was possible to
visit earlier, and probably do more good, though it is doubtful if,
in the majority of cases, much good can be done by visitation in
the early days of lying-in, or, indeed, till this is over.
For advice to have much effect, the mother must be herself experiencing
difficulties, and must not have too many neighbourly
advisers. When she is lying-in, the woman of the class usually
visited is generally helped with the baby by friends, who have ideas of
their own on the subject of infant management, and who advise against
recommendations from other quarters. When the patient is up
and about, and is left to tend her child by herself, she is more
ready to listen and to be advised.
With two women inspectors giving only part of their time to
visitation of births, it has been found quite impossible to visit
all cases. So far as possible an attempt has been made to see
the mothers of first babies, these being, of course, less experienced
and also more amenable than the mothers of larger families. When
it could be arranged, more than one visit was paid to individual
cases. This re-visitation is most desirable and most effective, and
if, in each case, a visit could be paid once a month until the child
was, say, twelve months old, the value of visitation would be very
considerably increased.
The accompanying table, continued from the Report of 1907,
shows the kind of information collected by the women inspectors
at their visits. Attention is again directed to the percentage of
infants stated to be wholly or partially breast-fed (breast only,
82 per cent; breast, etc., 5.5 per cent.) It must be borne in mind,
however, that a large number of the women are unable to continue
to suckle their children for any length of time after taking up
their ordinary duties again. Practically all the women in Finsbury
who cease to breast-feed their babies, do so because they cannot,
not because they will not, continue. Women who are over-worked,
under-fed, worried, and unable, either from their circumstances
or surroundings, to thoroughly regain their strength after child,
bearing, cannot secrete milk, good either in quality or quantity.