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89
the way of teaching them how to care for the baby and
prepare its food properly and how to clothe it sensibly.
In addition they need much instruction in keeping
cooking utensils, etc., clean, how to store food properly
and so many other things.
It is teaching they want. The more I work amongst
them the more convinced I am of this Unhealthy
surroundings and poverty may cause some of the infant
mortality, but the deplorable ignorance of the mothers is
responsible for far, far more of it.
I do not for a moment deny the influence of poverty,
the people are poor, but often I find it is the poorest who
in their ig orance will buy such things as cornflour, to
add to the babies milk because the baby is not growing
and the mother thinks she must feed it up.
A mother I visited was feeding a baby only a
fortnight old with boiled sago; she complained that
" he choked a little over the bits in it." Another who
was unable to nurse her baby and had been told by the
doctor to feed it on milk and barley water threw away
the water in which the barley was boiled and added the
pearl barley to the milk ; she complained " he didn't
like it and she had to feed him with a spoon as he
couldn't get the seeds out of the bottle." I could tell of
others who do similar things, not knowing how much
harm and how little good they are doing.
Many of the mothers do try their best and are so
ready to learn.
Life is very hard for most of them, some are careless
and do not try, but cau one wholly blame them, should