View report page

THE HEALTH OF BARKING
We can make a good guess too that nutrition is very important in this respeci
and there is evidence to show that this is so. I believe excessive strain and fatigue
and, in particular, strain involving the use of the hands above the head, such as
occurs when you hang curtains on tiptoe, may bring on premature birth.
It is most important that expectant mothers should take up and drink their cod
liver oil and orange juice or vitamin tablets supplied at the clinics and through the
Food Office. If not for their own sakes they should do it for the sake of the baby.
It is also necessary that children under five should take their's regularly. Babies
and toddlers are really partial to cod liver oil, but, of course, if the mother shudders
every time she puts a spoonful in the child's mouth, he will soon learn to do the
same.
Compared with other boroughs, the take-up of these vitamin supplements in
Barking is above the average but it is still far too low and I am not satisfied with the
position. The Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health recently wrote of
the conditions generally in England and Wales, " The take-up of these vitamin
supplements was, however, very disappointing in spite of all the efforts to make
mothers realise the importance of obtaining these supplements for themselves aid
their children." Full take-up of these vitamins might have a real effect on
prematurity.
In some of your clinics, Food Office officials sell cod liver oil and orange juice
on the spot, although the transaction must be carried out by means of postage stamps
In other clinics, where the Food Office is closer to hand, no such arrangement exists.
As a result the mother must, on leaving the clinic, go to the Post Office to buy stamps
and thence to the Food Office to collect the cod liver oil and orange juice. She may
well have to queue in both places. This rather clumsy machinery is, I think, in pat
resulting in a lower take-up of vitamin supplements than would be the case if they
were on sale at all clinics for cash rather than for stamps.
In this connection, the local Food Officer has given all possible assistance.
The other side of the coin is the problem of the premature infant once it has
arrived. To deal with this an addition to the birth notification card was made in
February, 1945, so that rapid action could be taken in the case of premature births.
Not all babies who are born early require to be nursed in hospital. Where home
conditions are good they are often better off there. Your Children's Specialist,
Dr. Doyne Bell, can visit the home, if necessary, and the mother is lent the special
equipment sometimes required for these babies. At other times, it is safer for the
premature infant to be nursed in hospital. To meet this need you have set up a
special nursery with 4 cots in Upney Hospital, because these ' early' babies have
to be nursed in a hot, wet atmosphere. I well remember a distinguished baby
doctor telling me that he once had a special nursery of this type in which a leaky
hot water tap was always spitting out clouds of steam : the babies thrived. Afto
Page 12