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Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
103
and of these, nine had removed before we could visit them a
second time. Many of the mothers were at work outside the
Borough, but came home to their relatives for the confinement
and left the babies to be nursed here when they returned
to their situations.
"24 were entirely breast-fed at the first visit (Balham
one, Tooting six, Southfield five, Fairfield four, Springfield
eight), the five in Southfield representing the total number
of illegitimate infants visited there. 24 re-visits were made
(Balham two, Tooting 10, Fairfield five, Springfield seven),
and of these, nine were still entirely breast-fed (Tooting one,
Fairfield three, Springfield five).
"A very large proportion of illegitimate deaths occurred
in Tooting, five out of the seven deaths belonging to that
district, the other two being in Balham and Fairfield. None
of the illegitimate children registered in Wandsworth were
premature, or delicate from birth, but in Tooting four were
delicate, and one was premature, and of these, two died.
Pneumonia was the cause of death in two instances (Balham
one, Fairfield one). Diarrhoea in three (Tooting), and Erysipelas
in one (Tooting); diseases which suggest a certain
amount of neglect on the part of the mother or nurse—and
Prematurity one (Tooting).
"We had the help of a voluntary worker at intervals
during the year, at first to make good arrears of work caused
by absence through illness during the whole of February and
March. When the work was brought up to date she devoted
her attention to the Southfield Ward, hitherto untouched,
and later we made a beginning in Putney, but shortly after
that she left to take up an official position and we had to
restrict our work to its former limits.
"With regard to the employment of midwives. Out of
the 1,996 mothers visited, 807 availed themselves of their
services. Of these, 528 employed midwives registered under
the London County Council (Putney 11, Balham 49, Tooting
169, Southfield 16, Fairfield 69, Springfield 214). The non-