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252
Infant Feeding.
Reliable information regarding feeding, etc., of the infants visited by
the voluntary helpers is not available, and as I mentioned in my last
report, it is impossible for me to visit the cases before handing them over,
which would be the better way; however, the following facts regarding the
infants visited by myself, may, I think, be taken as typical of the whole.
Of the 671 visited, 12 had removed, 17 were dead, and 12 were still
births. The remaining ones were fed, at the time of visit, as follows : —
Breastfed 92.0 per cent.
Mixed feeding 3.3 ,,
Hand fed 4.7 ,,
100.0
Number of mothers who worked during pregnancy:—
Home work 8.7 per cent.
Factory, workshop, charing, etc. 8 4 ,,
Families occupying—
1 room per family 9.6 per cent.
2 rooms ,, 21.1 ,,
It is now possible to give statistics regarding infants born from March
to December, 1908.
922 were kept under supervision as far as possible, but of these 231
removed and were not traced. This does not adequately convey the
difficulties met with when working amongst people of migratory habits, as
some of these changed their address no less than five times. The total
number of changes were 388, equal to 42 per cent. of the whole number
visited, changing their address once. Of the 691 remaining, 72 died,
giving a mortality rate of 104.19 per thousand visited, which I venture to
think may be looked upon as a satisfactory result of the year's work,
especially when one takes into consideration the fact that the worst areas
in the Borough are mapped out for visiting. The appended tables give
an analysis of the methods of feeding during the first six months of life of
the infants who completed the year and also the ones that died