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9
first expected. I think, however, that one explanation is that Mothers
are feeding their children artificially rather than by breast feeding,
partly because owing to economic conditions, e.g., a Mother who
has a young child and her husband in the forces, is necessarily
forced to find work in order to keep herself and her child, as she is
unable to manage adequately on the allotment made, so consequently
she is unable to feed her child naturally herself as she must be away
working as soon as possible and thus she feeds her child artificially
because some friend or neighbour is able to look after the child while
she is at work. Many of the Mothers do not seem to take kindly
to the National Dried Milk and prefer to pay for the proprietary dried
foods on which their other children have been reared.
The number of mothers availing themselves of the use of the
ante-natal clinic will necessitate the appointment of an extra health
visitor.
Maternal Mortality.
There were two maternal deaths during the year, the first case
was due to shock following acute post partum inversion of the uterus,
and occurred in an institution outside the Borough; the other death
occurred in the Acton Hospital, and was due to the pulmonary
embolism associated with subinvolution of the uterus due to retention
of part of the placenta. This patient attended the ante-natal clinic
once only and neglected to carry out what advice was given.
Infantile Mortality.
There were 31 deaths occurring in children under one year,
giving an infantile mortality figure of 47.8, as compared with 58.3
per 1,000 in 1940. The mortality rate for illegitimate children is
90.9 per thousand.
Day Nursery.
The Day Nursery in Bollo Bridge Road was re-opened in April
of this year, the Matron and Assistant Matron were transferred from
"Aigburth," Woking, to Acton and re-established the Day Nursery.
The number of staff has been increased and staff rooms improved in
order to provide additional facilities for the staff. The permission of
the Committee has been obtained to instal a refrigerator and this is
an added amenity to the Nursery. The number of children using
the Nursery is about 28 to 30 per day.
The total yearly attendances were 4,826. During this period
there were 208 half-days and 4,618 whole day attendances.