View report page

44
It is to be regretted that so small a percentage
of the mothers in the Borough recognise the importance
of the Infant Welfare Centres. It cannot be
too much emphasised that the Infant Welfare Centres
are not dispensaries for sick children, but it also
requires to be urged that many more mothers
would do well to obtain regular supervision of
their children's health. The Infant Welfare doctors
and the local practitioners would then be spared
many distressing cases of rickets and other manifestations
of unsuitable child-management. There
are many contributory causes of rickets, but
undoubtedly one of the most common is an
unsuitable diet in the first year of life, and the
slogan of any Maternity and Child Welfare Department
should be, that prevention is better
than cure.
In Fulham we have had the experiment of
special Toddlers' Clinics (i.e., special sessions for
children between the ages of two and five), but,
for some unknown reason, they did not justify
their existence. We find in this Borough that
we can more satisfactorily consider the mother
and her whole family together at the same Infant
Welfare session. The supervision of the nursing
mother is of extreme importance, an importance
which is very often not sufficiently recognised.
The economic and environmental surroundings of
the mother to a great extent influence the wellbeing
of the family; and I am more than ever
convinced that a Maternity and Child Welfare
Department which does not keep that point before
it fails in its chief duty. An oversight of the
general outlook of the mother in reference to her
child is as important as the physical care of her
health, and Medical Officers doing Infant Welfare
work should bear this constantly in mind. For
nearly fifteen years we have had special cards at
the clinics for recording the history of nursing
mothers. I believe it to be of the greatest importance
to keep an eye on the social welfare of
the mothers, even if they have no infant children.