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Housing.—The figures in the Table suggest that the size of the tenement, that is to say
the number of rooms occupied by the family of an infant exercises no effect on its chances of
survival. And these results may with some probability be explained by the fact that the parents'
income does not in the majority of cases increase with the size of their family and their need for
larger tenements. In other words an increase in air space may mean a diminution in the food
supply. The fact that the percentage of infants in basement rooms has been less among those
who died than among those who have survived admits of no explanation except that a misleading
result has been produced by the use of numbers which are too small to be used for statistical purposes.
PREVENTION OF INFANTILE MORTALITY.
Work with a view to improving the physique of infants and reducing the infantile death-rate
is carried out by the Council's Health Visitors and a number of highly efficient voluntary agencies.
During the year the two Health Visitors have been to the homes of 2,284 newly-born infants,
and have paid 5,605 visits or re-visits for the purpose of giving advice in infant management. The
first visit is as far as may be possible timed to take place between the 10th and 20th day after
the birth of the child, and if the midwife or doctor in charge of the case has ceased attending a
printed card of advice is left with the mother. The printed instructions are explained and notes
are made on the health of the child and other matters. If the infant is making progress in a satisfactory
home, and especially if the mother's previous history as to ability to nurse and rear her children
is good, a second visit may not be necessary. Where, as in the case of a first baby, the mother
is in need of further advice re-visits are paid according to the necessities of each case. Inquiries
are also made in the homes of infants who die before the age of 12 months or who are notified
as still-born. The information obtained in this way has been summarised in the tables dealing
with the causes of infantile mortality, and has already been fully discussed. Necessitous mothers
are referred to the Charity Organisation Society or to one of the three dinner centres. Hospital
letters are obtained for ailing infants whose parents cannot afford to pay for medical advice, and
the fullest use is made of the assistance offered to mothers of the poorer classes by various
philanthropic agencies in the Borough.
In 267 instances, infants in the Wornington Road district have been referred to the Lancaster
Road School for Mothers, and have been visited from the outset by the hospital nurse attached to
the School.
In the northern half of the Borough there are now three "schools for mothers" maintained
by voluntary contributions, where any necessitous woman who is nursing her baby can obtain a
dinner in the middle of the day at a cost of one penny. At each school weekly consultations are
also held and are attended both by nursing mothers and the mothers of bottle-fed babies. At
these consultations each baby is weighed and at two schools the weighing is carried out by the
Council's Health Visitors, who attend once a week for this purpose, and for the purpose of giving
advice. At the third school advice is given to the mothers by a lady who is a qualified medical
practitioner, and Dr. Carter attends once a week at the school in the Bramley Road, to see any
child whose progress is not satisfactory. At all three centres sewing classes are held and lectures
on infant care are given. In a period of 12 months more than 590 mothers have attended the
infant consultations at one or other of the three centres. The total number of dinners supplied
to expectant or nursing mothers during the year amounted to 25,229, and cooking classes for
mothers have been held both at the Bramley Road School and the school in the Lancaster Road.
Special mention should also be made of the extension of the Bramley Road scheme by which
children at any age under 5 years may now be brought to the "infant" consultations, so that the
school, to quote the words used in the Annual Report of the Committee, is now able "to carry
on a most important work, viz.: the bridging of the gap between early infancy and the medical
inspection of children of school age."
Through the close connection which exists between the schools for mothers and the Public
Health Department, overlapping is avoided and a system has been established which cannot fail to
effect a material improvement in the physique of the children of the poorer classes in Kensington.