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81
The circular is in the following terms:—
Notification of Births and Home Visiting in regard to
The Feeding and Care of Infants.
The Board desire to emphasise the value of systematic visitation of
the homes of infants under the direction of the medical officer of health
with a view to the removal of conditions in and about their homes which
facilitate the spread of infectious and other diseases. In view of the
importance of the first visit being made soon after the birth of a child,
it is important that the Notification of Births Act, 1907, under the
operation of which a medical officer of health receives information as to
the birth of a child within 36 hours should be in force in the Council's
district.
The Notification of Births Act, 1907, is now in force in counties
and districts representing over two-thirds of the population of England
and Wales, and the authorities which have not adopted it, and are not
now taking steps to adopt it, are urged to give the question serious
consideration. The advantage of county administration, outside large
urban communities, is that the work of visiting homes in which births
have occurred and giving advice to the mother with reference to the
feeding of the infant and its protection from risk of disease may be
entrusted to an officer who already works in the district and visits the
hemes as inspector of midwives, tuberculosis visitor, or otherwise.
The Board attach much importance to special visits paid to mothers
during the season in which infantile diarrhoea is likely to prevail. The
records of notification of births during the previous months will enable
visits and re-visits to be made to the homes where they are most likely
to be useful; homes in which there are infants from three to twelve
months old, and in which breast-feeding of these infants is known to
have ceased, should be visited oftener than others. The Board will be
glad if the Council will consider the question of increasing their visiting
staff, if these more frequent visits cannot at once be made without such
increase. It is desirable to obtain the assistance of voluntary visitors
in this work, and to secure co-ordination with any voluntary institution
for the welfare if infants in the district.
Domestic Precautions.
In giving advice to mothers as to the prevention of diarrhœa, stress
should be laid on methods of storing milk and other food in the dwelling.
Milk vessels should be properly cleansed and scalded, kept cool by being
placed in water or wrapped in a damp cloth, and should be covered