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24
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
number of first visits totalled 3,543, of re-visits 3,612, and of ineffectual
visits 2,133. 120 re-inspections were made in respect of
premises for which notices had been served.
" At the first visit 2,970 infants were wholly breast-fed; of the
remaining 573, 230 were breast-fed supplemented by artificial
feeding, 135 were fed on cows' milk only, 62 on condensed milk
only, 49 on dried milk, and 36 on farinaceous and other foods.
" On the re-visits, 1,835 were entirely breast-fed, in 707 cases
cows', condensed or dried milks or farinaceous foods were given
in addition to the breast, 353 were fed on cows' milk only, 141 on
condensed milk only, and 130 on dried milk. As a consequence of
the more frequent visits and at a later age, the proportion of children
having farinaceous foods was greater than in former years.
" In only 12 cases were tube bottles used ; 28 were spoon fed,
two were cup-fed, and the remainder had boat bottles. 134 of the
infants visited died during the year; the highest mortality, (24)
occurred during the second and third months, and 61 died before
reaching the age of four months. 37 died from respiratory diseases,
12 from measles, five from whooping cough complicated with
broncho-pneumonia, 32 from diarrhoea and enteritis, nine from
prematurity and debility from birth, eight from marasmus, three
from atrophy, three from meningitis, four from tuberculosis, four,
of whom two were twins, were accidentally suffocated, four from
gastritis, two from cleft palate, two from dentition, and the remaining
nine from various complaints.
" 146 of the infants visited were prematurely born, and 50
were delicate from birth ; 57 twin births were visited, and one set
of triplets. With regard to the employment of midwives, 1,452 of
the mothers had employed their services, and in one case only of
emergency had an unregistered midwife been called in, and 157
infants were born in hospitals and other institutions.