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8. The baby was 6 months old and had just recovered from
pneumonia. It had two teeth, and was trying to eat a "toffee
apple" which had become impaled on its teeth. Its mouth was
full of green apple pulp.
Care and Condition of Baby.—When the babies were first
visited by the health visitors, many of them were improperly or
irregularly fed, wasting, suffering from exposure or neglect, or
insufficiently or improperly clothed. Some babies had no clothes.
Just as some babies were under-clothed, so others were overclothed.
On a hot summer day, a baby 7 months old was found
to be dressed in one woollen vest, one flannel shirt, two flannel
frocks, one cotton petticoat, and one woollen dress, The use of
flannelette clothes is extremely common—chiefly on Account of the
cheapness, and the attractive colour, backed by the protestations
of obdurate grandmothers who will have no other. Sometimes a
mother explains that she will not give her baby woollen clothes
because "once you clothe them in flannel you can never get them
to take to flannelette afterwards." Occasionally a slum mother,
more intelligent than her neighbours, will develop quite sensible
and advanced ideas. Thus a baby was found in its cot, clad only
in a coloured coat, active and lively. It was a hot day, and the
mother had bought the garment for the baby in order that it might
kick freely, and strengthen its muscles in what she called its
"sports coat."
Babies are put into short clothes at very unsuitable times and
in very inclement weather, often, it may be, on the occasion of
the birthday of some other member of the family, or at Easter or
Christmas. They are taken out to be shown to relatives and
friends, clad for the first time in these short clothes, in spite of
rain, wind, hail or snow. They catch cold, bronchitis, pneumonia,
and a few die. Many children were dirty—very many were
verminous. When the mother goes out to work early in the morning
the washing of the children is delegated to the eldest, who
may be only 8 or 10 years old, or they are left unwashed until the
mother returns at night. Some mothers admit that they do not
wish to wash their babies, "because the baby flops about so,"—
"its bones and joints ain't what you may call set"; others say
they do not know how to wash the baby's body, and therefore only