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21
Illustrative Cases.—
1. A baby 7 months old cried incessantly. It was being fed on
the breast, and in the intervals had sips of diluted condensed milk
and a breakfast cup of boiled bread, quite full, four times daily.
It began to waste and to get sick; it was being overfed. The
mother was dirty and careless.
2. A baby 2 weeks old was being breast fed and received daily
in addition 4 bottles full of diluted condensed milk, 3 tablespoonfuls
of fine oatmeal and a " dose " of Syrup of Buckthorn.
The baby was being overfed and the mother was advised only
to give it the breast.
This she did for a time, but at a later visit when the baby was
10 weeks old, it was having cod liver oil and roast apples " as it
did not seem to be satisfied."
The child was now wasting and vomiting its food.
8. A baby 7 months was placed in an empty Covent Garden
fruit basket by its mother's stall in a market street. It was
eating chipped potatoes and sucking the batter from a piece of
fried fish. The mother was a street hawker and sold fruit. The
father was out of work.
4. The mother was a bookfolder and returned to work shortly
after the birth of the child. The father was a carman out of work.
The father cleaned the house, looked after the baby, and took it
down to the mother's workshop at meal times so that it might be
breast fed. The baby was fat. The house was very clean.
5. The baby was the fifth child, one month old, and the only
one living. It was being fed on currant cake although the mother
had abundant breast milk. The mother was unable to read or
write. The other children had all died under 5 months of age.
6. The baby was five weeks old and the seventh child. It was
being washed at 4 p.m., had been breast fed at 9.30 a.m. and had