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Report of the Medical Officer of Health. 95
In many instances the family had removed, in some cases
wrong addresses had been given, and frequently we had to
call two, three or even as many as six times before finding
the mother at home.
"Table XLVI. shows the number of infants visited a
second time and the method of feeding then found, the
average age at the second visit being from four to five
months.
"It will be seen from Table XLV. that out of the 1,626
infants visited 50 were having food in addition to the breast.
"The excuse invariable was that the child 'was not
satisfied' with the mother's milk, and so bread, baked flour,
or, in the majority of instances, nursery biscuits, were added.
At the second visit we found that 36 out of the 50 had on our
advice discontinued the food; of these 13 were given the
breast only and 23 were obliged to give cows' milk in
addition.
"During the hot weather Nestle's condensed milk was
largely given in preference to cows' milk owing to the lack
of cool storage room in the poorer houses; in not more than
one or two instances did we find a larder with outside ventilation.
Several mothers gave cows' milk during the day and
condensed milk at night. Nearly all those giving cows' milk
were following the directions contained in the pamphlets
distributed.
"In Tooting, tube bottles were more largely used than
the boat shaped, in Wandsworth the reverse was the case.
"As in 1905, we found that the weaning of the infants,
especially during the winter months, was mainly due to the
malnutrition of the mothers or to the necessity of their having
to go out to work owing to the lack of employment
among the men.
"With regard to the employment of midwives, out of
the 1,626 mothers visited 692 availed themselves of their