View report page

66
said to have died from "convulsions," have, in reality, been accidently
suffocated in bed. Occasionally the mother has been so
drunk that she has with difficulty been awakened from her carouse
on the following morning. In any case the result to the baby is
the same. The baby has been suffocated to death by its own
mother. Now every mother thinks that this accident cannot
possibly happen to her. And every mother to whom it has happened
says she cannot "understand it at all." For many years
warnings have been given to Finsbury mothers about these
deaths, and yet they still occur at the rate of 20 deaths every year,
entirely due to the mother's carelessness or to her drinking habits.
All these deaths can be prevented by letting the baby sleep by
itself in its own cot at night, and not with the parents or with
the other children. A cheap cot can be made by padding a banana
crate or orange box or small galvanized bath. Otherwise the baby
may be put to sleep in a clothes basket or in one of the wooden
drawers pulled out from the chest of drawers and placed on the
floor. The baby should in all these cases be carefully wrapped up
in warm bedclothes. Put a hot water bottle or a warm brick
wrapped in flannel near the baby's feet, but not too close, or the
child may be burnt.
By Section 13 of the Children Act, 1908. Where it can be
proved that the death of a baby was caused by overlying whilst
the infant was in bed with some other person (its mother, father,
or any other adult) and that such other person was at the time of
going to bed under the influence of drink, that other person (the
mother, father, or other adult in bed with the baby) shall be liable
to prosecution and on conviction to two years' imprisonment with
hard labour.
To remind you—
Never let the baby sleep in the same bed with an adult.
Every time a mother and her baby sleep together in the same
bed the child's life is risked.
Let the baby sleep in its own cot by itself.
A. E. THOMAS,
Medical Officer of Health.