London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Islington 1908

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington, Metropolitan Borough of]

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13
The notification is in addition to, and not in substitution for, the requirements
of any Act relating to the registration of births.
The Act applies to any child which has issued forth from its mother after the
expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, whether alive or dead.
It will be seen that deaths under one year of age per 1,000 corrected births
were only 111 which is the lowest recorded infantile mortality in the Borough.
The deaths of legitimate children under one year of age per 1,000 corrected births
were 104, and the deaths of illegitimate children under one year per 1,000
corrected births were 261.
The principal causes of death of these 118 children (of which 12 were
illegitimate) under one year of age are given in Table V. of the Appendix.
Of the 118 deaths of infants during the year further details were able to be
obtained by the Lady Sanitary Inspector respecting 111. In some cases, particularly
in the case of illegitimate births, the mothers could not be found owing to change
of address or an incorrect address having been given. In a few cases, also, details
were not obtained, as the infants had only lived a few hours.
Of the 118 deaths, 19 died before taking food; 55 were naturally fed including
one that was artificially fed from seven months old; 42 were artificially fed and
in two cases no information could be obtained. Of the 42 artificially fed, 30 used
boat bottles, 7 were spoon fed and only 5 used tube bottles. Eleven of the
mothers worked in factories or workshops, 13 did charing or other work outside
the home, 3 were in domestic service, 1 engaged in homework (tailoring), 3 mothers
died and the remainder were engaged in household duties. Of the 20 deaths of
infants from diarrhceal diseases all but 2 had been artificially fed.

The total number of births notified in the Borough from 9th March, 1908 to the end of the registration year 1908, was as follows:—

Notified once only
(a) By Doctors842
(b) „ Midwives143
(c) „ Parents and others54
Notified twice
(a) By Doctors and Parents15
(b) „ Midwives and Parents4
1,058

During the same period 1,264 births were registered.
From the 9th March, 1908, to the end of the year, Miss Orange made 627
primary visits respecting newly-born children. She found that in 526 cases the