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106
"The grant from the London Medical Charities Fund has been
of great service to the Infant Care Work throughout the year,
and so have the Mayor's untiring efforts to procure warm clothing
and other necessities for many infants in the Borough, who would
otherwise have been without them.
"Infant Weighing.—During the year 235 infants were
brought to be weighed, and their total visits numbered 1,031.
This branch of the Infant Care Work is growing rapidly; during
last year it nearly doubled the amount of 1913.
"It is satisfactory that this work should be growing, for it is
the best way of keeping in touch with the mothers, and teaching
them how best to look after their children and to guard them
against illness. There is no doubt that much of the ill-health at
present existing amongst Elementary School children could be
prevented by medical supervision of the child and a better knowledge
of infant care on the part of the mother during the child's
earlier life. In this way both expense and suffering can be saved.
"It is seldom, if ever, that when a child first attends the
Weighing Centre it is fed, clothed, and generally cared for on
the best lines. The greatest pitfalls naturally lie in the path of
the hand-fed infants, partly because their milk has to be frequently
altered in strength to meet the requirements of the growing child,
and this is not an easy matter.
"Patent foods are often used too early in life. A mother will
tell you that she is giving her baby a patent food because milk
did not satisfy him; but this is because she has not diluted the
milk according to the child's requirements. For the same reason
one finds bread, biscuits, and sometimes even oatmeal added to
the milk of a very young baby.
"The worst case of ignorant feeding that came to our knowledge
during the year was that of a child, 3 months old, who
came to be weighed. He was fed on the following mixture:—
2 teaspoonfuls of ground barley.
2 teaspoonfuls of condensed milk.