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has been "faced" with talc, steatite, or other noxious mineral
matter, and, it is alleged, even with rancid oils. It is quite
common also, to find in barley, in rolled oats, and in porridge oats
even in some of the best brands, small black pellets which are the
excremental droppings of mice. It is possible that the diarrhoea,
which sometimes follows the taking of barley water by babies, may
really be directly due to the fouling of their drink by this dried
faecal matter. The use of barley water is very much discouraged
in Finsbury.
Artificial feeding is very common after the third month. The
tubeless bottle is popular, but the long-tubed bottle is still to be
found, chiefly in families where the grandmother's directing influence
is paramount. Some mothers there are who assert they have
never seen any other kind than the long-tubed bottle. Others
appear to be quite dense and crass-headed, and quite unable to
understand simple feeding instructions. In these cases it is very
helpful to explain matters to the older children of 12 to 14 years,
who to a certain extent may be expected to guide and check the
mothers.
It is astonishing in squalid streets to see the heavy responsibilities
that are cast upon young children. When the mother goes
out to work, the care of the whole family may be left to a girl of
10 years or even less. Cases have been known where the only
occupants of a tenement were a girl of 8 years, who was washing
the floor and looking after 3 younger children and the baby. She
had been given a halfpenny to get the baby milk—a farthing's
worth for dinner and a farthing's worth for tea, and twopence to
get herself and the other children fish and chips. In such circumstances,
the cleaning of the milk bottle is left to these young
children, who do the best they can. One tried to clean the bottle
with water and paper pellets made from an old newspaper. Another
child of 12 years, a novice at minding baby, was cleaning
the milk bottle with paraffin. She observed that "paraffin will
clean anything." The milk prepared for the baby by these children
foster-mothers is often found to be too hot, so that the infant
vomits after taking it.