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(4). If you are nursing your child through Measles, Scarlet
Fever, etc., be very careful to follow your doctor's instructions
even after your child is better, as the sight may be greatly
injured in this kind of illness.
(5). Never allow your children to read, write or sew in a
bad light, or they may permanently damage their eyesight.
(6). Never allow your child to wear glasses until the
doctor has examined the eyes and ordered them. You are
warned against the advertisements of so-called "Eye Specialists,"
chemists posing as " Opticians," " Sight Testers," and the like.
(7). If you notice that your child has to bend closely over
books or work, or screws up his eyes when looking at things at
a distance, or holds his head crookedly under the same circumstances,
or suffers from pains in the head, there is probably
something wrong with the eyes, and he should be promptly
taken to a doctor or to the Eye Hospital for treatment. All
children over a year old who squint should be taken to the
doctor or the Eye Hospital at once.
The principal causes of infantile mortality in St. Marylebone,
as will be seen from Table VII. appended, are prematurity
of birth, developmental diseases (such as dentition, want of
breast milk and marasmus), and diarrhceal diseases. There
were 267 infant lives lost in St. Marylebone during 1908, the
infantile death rate being equivalent to 104 per thousand
registered births, as compared with 102, the rate for 1907.
These rates are not high as compared with those of most other
districts in London.
The infantile death 'rate is higher than it should be in
Christ Church Sub-District (which embraces Lisson Grove), no
fewer than 105 of the deaths recorded having taken place in
that district, as compared with 77 in St. Mary's District (the
area bounded by Marylebone Road, Edgware Road, Oxford
Street, and High Street), 59 in All Souls' District (the area
east of High Street, Marylebone), and 29 in the St. John's
Wood District.
The deaths of infants were greater in number during the
first week of life than during any other single period, no fewer
than 71 out of the total of 267 occurring at that time. This
fact alone justifies the adoption of the Notification of Births
Act, shewing, as it does, the need for early notification and early
visitation, with a view to the administration of advice and
assistance in the management of this dangerous period.