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Most of these children it will be observed were, when first
visited, found to be breast-fed, but it must not be assumed that
this desirable state of things continued during the child's first
year of life. Generally it is found that on subsequent visitation a
very considerable proportion are found to have been for some
reason, such as failure of breast milk, going out to work of mothers,
&c., wholly or in part deprived of the natural milk supply, and
some form of artificial feeding substituted. Cows milk is found
to be the most usual form of food substituted, and as pointed out
in last year's annual report there is a growing tendency to the use of
cows milk in preference to condensed milk, due no doubt, to the
persistent efforts of the Council to bring to the notice of the mothers
the advantages of the former over the latter as a food for babies
unable to be fed on the breast.
The visits of the Health Visitors continue to be greatly appreciated
by the mothers and have produced excellent results in
the reduction of infant mortality in the Borough. Thus Miss Moss
in her report to me states "During 1911, 333 notified births have
been visited against 290 in 1910, 47 per cent, of the babies were
more or less ill as against 53 per cent, in 1910. The death rate for
infants under observation (616 including Milk Depot) is 92 per
1,000 births as against 124 per 1,000 for the Borough. Owing to the
press of other work it is impossible to visit a very large number and
the revisits are not satisfactory in number; ideally each infant
should be visited at least 4 times during the first year. Some of
the delicate ones needing weekly supervision for at least the first
three months, the weighing-room in a measure helps this deficiency."
It is satisfactory to note, mainly, there can be little doubt,
owing to the educational effect of these visitations, that many of
the abuses carried out in the feeding and rearing of infants are
gradually disappearing. Thus the long-tube bottle which can
only be fitly described as a most unhygienic contrivance has almost
disappeared, Miss Peacock who visited 692 births in 1911, finding
it being used in only ten instances. In all but two of these, she
was able to persuade the mothers to give up using this form of
bottle, and in regard to these two, in one case the child was subsequently
removed to the Infirmary where it died, and the other
child was removed from the district, the mother promising to
discontinue the use of this form of bottle.
Infants' Milk Depot.
During the year 1911, the number of infants fed from the
Council's Infant's Milk Depot, was 470 as compared with 492 in
1910. Of this number 431 were resident in Battersea and the remaining
39 in adjoining districts.
The age at which these children commenced taking the milk
and the length of time fed are shown in the following table:—