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immediately all babies under 4 lb., and those showing signs of prematurity, such as
cyanosis, impaired respiration or inability to suck. 81 infants were transferred within a
few hours of birth and 4 between 6 hours and 10 days, on account of their unsatisfactory
condition. 19 of these infants died and 66 were making good progress on discharge.
Of these 66, 19 were entirely breast fed.
Total
Died
Survived
Breast fed
Home 292 4 288 253
Hospital.. .. 85 19 66 19
377 23 354 272
25 babies were under lb. at birth. 12 of these survived, including 7 who were also
more than 8 weeks premature. 2 of these were born in the W.C., but after resuscitation
and removal to hospital, both did well.
Neo-natal
deathspremature
infants
There were 23 neo-natal deaths: 19 in hospital and 4 at home.
Hospital cases:
9 infants under 3½ lb. and more than 4 weeks premature
2 infants under 4½ lb. and more than 4 weeks premature
1 infant 5 lb. and more than 4 weeks premature
3 infants over 5 lb. and not premature according to dates
All died of prematurity
within 48 hours.
There were three severely deformed infants who only just survived birth and one
mongol who died within a few days of birth.
Home cases:
1 very small infant more than 8 weeks premature died within a few hours of birth.
1 infant of 4½ lb. and 1 of 5 lb., whose condition appeared to be satisfactory, died unexpectedly
at 3 and 14 hours respectively.
1 infant, previously making good progress, had a cyanotic attack at 12 days and died.
Stillbirths and neonatal deaths
There were 114 stillbirths in a total of 8,133 domiciliary births. 46 were ante-partum
deaths and of these 20 infants showed some congenital deformities, while 23 were
under 5½ lbs. in weight.
Among the 68 presumably intra-partum deaths 26 babies weighed less than 5½ lbs.
and 5 could be considered to be post-mature.
The record of neonatal deaths is incomplete. There were, however, 36 deaths in the
first week of life of which 7 occurred after the babv had been transferred to hospital.
Statistics
For the year 1953 and subsequent years the division of domiciliary confinements 5
between midwifery and maternity nursing cases was dropped for statistical purposes
at the request of the Ministry of Health. Confinements are now classified as either
'doctor booked' or 'doctor not booked', with sub-divisions of 'doctor present' and
'doctor not present'.