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100
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
"We have found, during the year, many mothers
anxiously awaiting us, whom we had visited previously with
other children; the pamphlets were carefully kept, many
things we had told them remembered, and the older children
shown with much pride as having been brought up according
to our advice.
"In only one instance was the pamphlet refused, and in
that case the mother was a foreigner who did not seem to
understand the trend of the conversation. Several fathers
have expressed their gratitude to us for our visits, and have
desired their wives to follow carefully our instructions, in
contrast to one or two men in former years who forbad their
wives to admit us or to take the pamphlet. One or two midwives
have asked for copies also.
"The total number of visits paid after notification of births
will be found in the first of our Tables, No. XLIX., which
also shows the method of feeding at the first visit, and the
number of infants visited who died during the year. Although
the number of homes visited where deaths from Diarrhoea
and Enteritis had occurred was far greater this year than last
(115 as against 76 in 1907), only 20 had been previously
visited by us (Balham three, Tooting six, Wandsworth
eleven). Of the 20, five were delicate from birth, two were
twins, and one was the eldest of triplets, three were entirely
breast-fed, two of whom died in October from bronchitis and
pneumonia in addition to Enteritis, and the other was delicate
from birth.
"Tooting is not the 'black spot' it was last year, the
proportion of deaths being considerably lower.
"Of the 1,996 infants visited during the year, 46 died in
addition to the 20 previously mentioned, who succumbed to
Diarrhoea and Enteritis. Of the 46, 4 died from Prematurity
—2 being twins; this may seem a small proportion, but the
majority of deaths from this cause occurred within a few
days of birth. 13 died from Bronchitis and Pneumonia, which
have been exceedingly prevalent this winter, and indeed, on
some days in nearly every house we visited, the baby was