View report page

51
The number of children over one year of age is disproportionately
small, the great majority of mothers finding it
too great an effort to attend with the ex-baby as well as the
baby. Records show that of 1,322 children born in 1930,
i.e., children over 4 years of age, only 30 attended the Centres.
Between 3 and 4 years old 431 children on our index
were attending school under the care of the London County
Council. Co-operation with the nursery school—an essential
link in the chain of infant welfare work—is a third factor in
reducing the number of attendances in this group. There is
little doubt that after all the years of intensive teaching in the
homes and at the Centres, the great majority of our mothers
know the important facts of infant welfare. Our
problem is to help them to do the things they know to be
right.
Nearly 200 children were referred to hospital for conditions
needing immediate treatment. It is of interest to
record that at Baby Shows held in the Borough our children
continued to do well, taking first prizes in their respective
classes.
We have been pleased to welcome Student Health
Visitors attending our Centres for the practical work for the
Health Visitor's Diploma examination and final-year medical
students from the London Hospital.
(HEREFORD STREET CENTRE)
This branch Welfare Centre is open on Monday and
Thursday afternoons for infant consultations. Attendances
have been satisfactory when it is remembered that so many
facilities for child welfare are not available at a branch centre.
Children referred by the medical officers for milk grants,
sunlight, inhalation, massage and dental treatment must be
transferred to Cornwall Road.
At this clinic also the decrease in the total attendances
of children over the age of one is marked. The practical
difficulty of attending with two or more children, of undressing
or redressing them while keeping them cheerful in the
process is no small one. Among the infants attending for
the first time it is satisfactory to note that in nearly every
case in which a mother has attended the Maternity Clinic
at this Centre for herself, the new baby is brought to the infant
consultations held here at the earliest possible moment.
This makes for continuity of work and good co-operation
between the family and the Welfare Centre,