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16
Attached to the Milk Depot is an Infants Consultations Centre,
where consultations for mothers, infants and children (under 5 years
of age) are held, with the Medical Officer of Health and one of the
Council's Official Health Visitors in attendance. The babies are
weighed and the weights and other details tabulated in the Register,
and those mothers and infants and children (under 5 years of age)
who require medical advice are examined by the Medical Officer of
Health, visiting at the homes being carried out by a Health Visitor,
as required. The Manageress also attends daily (Sundays excepted)
between the hours of 12 (noon) and 2 p.m. at the Depot for the purpose
of giving out the milk and of also consulting with mothers
and others in regard to infant and child feeding and management.
The Medical Officer of Health can also be seen personally by
mothers by appointment at the Town Hall, or communicated with
by telephone, the Town Hall and the Milk Depot being in telephonic
communication.
The most conclusive proof of the value of a Milk DepÓt, in
so far as the infants and children fed are concerned, is to be found
in the medical histories of individual cases, which show again and
again, in the case of the Depot, that those infants and children who
appear to be seriously ill and wasting, if not moribund, as the result
of improper or irregular feeding, at the time of commencing the
milk, actually recover and become strong and healthy. Practically
no medicines are used, reliance being placed upon what is known
as percentage feeding, the giving of modified (humanised) cow's
milk, of which the different composition varies according to the age
and condition of the infant or child being fed. The percentages of
protein, fat, carbohydrate and mineral matter are strictly in
accordance (averages) with those to be found in mother's milk
for the same age periods.
The educational value of a Milk Depot and of unattached
Infants Consultations Centre must not be lost sight of.
Lambeth Milk Assistance Scheme (Free or Aided
Supplies).
The Milk Assistance Scheme is still in existence, but the
amount of milk distributed thereunder, and the numbers of
expectant and nursing mothers and children under 5 years of age
benefited have been correspondingly reduced on account of the lowness
of the present income-limit allowed by the Ministry of Health
owing to the need for national economy. The old Milk Orders
and the unrestricted Milk Assistance Scheme had proved, beyond
doubt, since 1918, the great value of milk as an accessory food
for expectant and nursing mothers and for children under 5 years
of age. This value of milk as an accessory food is still being proved