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29
INFANT CONSULTATIONS.
The work of Infant Consultations has continued
on the same lines as heretofore, that is, the individual
instruction of the mother by the doctor or health
visitor.
A few observations by some of the Medical Officers
will be of interest:—
I am struck at the Bethnal Green Clinic, as I am at
my other clinics and at Great Ormond Street, with the rarity
of cases of congenital syphilis and of rickets—at least of
rickets of any extreme degree. I have often heard Dr. Frew,
whose first assistant I am at Great Ormond Street, comment
on these two facts, which I myself proved to be true.
There are all sorts of mothers attend the Clinic, some
for what they can get, but I always find the work is well
worth doing for the sake of those who really come for advice
and try to follow it out.
A. M. Hutchison.
One of the most important functions of an Infant Welfare
Centre is to superintend and advise as to the feeding
of babies.
It is very gratifying to notice what a large proportion
of the mothers attending this Centre are able and anxious to
feed their babies in the natural and best way—on the breast.
Where this is not possible I usually recommend one of the
excellent dried milks—which in most cases prove very
successful. However pure and fresh the milk is when
delivered, we have to remember that many of our mothers
live, and have to carry on all their domestic activities, in
cramped and crowded houses. It is almost impossible for
them to keep the milk, which is perhaps delivered in a
satisfactory condition, free from all contamination for the rest
of the day, and milk which is not clean may be a virulent
poison.
E. F. Iredell.