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3. Cow's milk for babies should be from one cow, and there is
always one cow for every baby, whose milk alone suits the
baby.
4. A baby can't make enough heat to sleep in a cot by itself.
5. It is unlucky to weigh a baby, and dangerous to cut its
nails. The nails must be bitten off with the teeth until the
child is a year old.
6. A baby must not be put out in the fresh air, or it will get
sore eyes.
7. A quick cure for "thrush" is to wipe out the baby's mouth
with its wet napkin.
8. If a baby cries without any apparent cause, this is due to
some wish of the mother ungratified during her pregnancy.
9. Puerperal Fever is due to the washing of the lying-in
mother.
10. Prolonged suckling prevents conception.
These and many others are the crude ideas which are kept alive
in London slums by " nurses " of the type now under review.
It is a pity that the hospitals which now work in the district do
not establish an efficient service of maternity nurses to displace
some of these noisome and unsavoury " Gamps."
Otherwise, the Borough Council might subscribe to the funds of
the Royal Maternity Charity or Maternity Nursing Association,
on condition that these bodies provided a nurse to attend to
Finsbury lying-in mothers on the request of a lady health visitor.
It is computed that, one nurse devoting her whole time to this
work could attend to 800 mothers during the year.
Illustrative Cases.
1. The baby was 8 weeks old, wasting and "covered with
sores." During the lying-in, the "nurse" did not wash the
mother. She did not put the baby to the mother's breast until it
was 3 days old. She wrongly informed the mother that there was
no milk in her breasts and immediately began feeding the baby
artificially. She advised the mother never to wake the baby to
feed it, and not to wash it until it was 6 weeks old. She told the