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14
A small book on the management of children is left with her
and its chief provisions explained. The instruction is designed
to be crisp, pithy, and practical.
An invitation is given to attend the infant consultation and to
have her baby weighed regularly.
During the year 1,160 first visits and 2,807 re-visits were paid
to Finsbury homes where births occurred.
A summary of the results achieved and of other matters of
interest is given in the paragraphs which follow : —
Method of Feeding.— It is found that up to the age of
three months nearly 90 per cent. of the infants are entirely
or partially breast-fed. The Finsbury mothers who cease to
breast-feed their babies do so, not because they are unwilling
to continue, but because they cannot continue.
Owing to the small wages of the family, or to the casual or
insecure nature of the father's employment, the mother herself
has to resume work, sometimes as a homeworker making cardboard
boxes, or artificial flowers, in order to obtain nourishment
for herself and family. Occasionally the mother is found to be
the sole support of husband and children.
When the mother goes to work the child is left in charge
of a neighbour or of someone else, and no longer obtains the
attention it should have.
In one case the mother returned to work when the child was
14 days old—but she used to come home at meal times to
breast-feed the baby. When she was unable to come the child
was given condensed milk by the grandmother.
It is often stated that babies who are breast-fed do not become
ricketty. This is not the case in Finsbury. Mothers are
frequently found with infants entirely breast-fed and yet ricketty.
These are the mothers who are underfed, who are overworked,
who are worn out with child bearing, worn out with rearing