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15
a family, supporting the children and a sick or idle husband.
In this Borough the commonest faults in the care and upbringing
of infants are in order of frequency—unsuitable clothing, unsuitable
food, and irregular feeding.
As examples of faulty feeding, the following may be cited :—
A baby 6 months old fed with "a piece of everything we
have ourselves."
A baby 3 months old fed by its mother on porridge because
she " had very little milk, and the father was out of work."
A baby 2 months fed on potatoes and broth.
A baby 1 month fed by its mother on oatmeal.
A baby 6 weeks old fed on an unsuitable patent food. The
father had seen it advertised as being used by a royal household,
and "what was good enough for royalty was good enough for
his young ones."
A baby 7 weeks fed once a day only on bread and milk by
its grandmother.
A baby 3 weeks old fed on biscuits.
Many, far too many, of the children were found to be chiefly
fed on boiled bread. This is an exceedingly common article
of diet for Finsbury babies. Mothers insist on giving it in
spite of instructions to the contrary. Boiled bread is hardly the
material upon which to rear a strong and sturdy Imperial race.
The long-tubed bottle—long since condemned—is now less
used than formerly; it is chiefly found when the children are left
in care of their grandmothers, who will have no other.
The Public Health Department supplies for a penny a tubeless
feeding-bottle; where the parents are very poor the bottle is
given gratis,