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CHILD WELFARE SESSIONS
As part of the general arrangements for the care of mothers and children the
Council provides child welfare clinics at which teaching in infant feeding, general
care and mothercraft are given by the medical officer and the health visitor. The
medical officer is responsible for examining all the new babies and being concerned
with feeding problems, behaviour difficulties, and the follow-up of all children
needing medical supervision.
Should a baby develop severe and prolonged feeding difficulties, accommodation
in a residential mothercraft training home can be arranged for the mother and child.
When children reach their first birthday, then and on subsequent birthdays until
the age of five, they are sent an attractively designed birthday card. This contains
a request for the mother to bring the child to the clinic for a "birthday check". By
this means the medical officer is able to determine the developmental progress of
each child and to assess if there is any departure from normal.
An important item in the work undertaken at child welfare sessions is the keeping
of the Observation Register. It is known that certain factors in the ante-natal and
post-natal history of a child place that child "at risk" of developing an abnormality
or handicap, and for such children an observation register is kept at each clinic.
The medical officer keeps children on this register under surveillance and examines
them where possible at regular intervals in a systematic way, e.g., by performing the
Sheridan hearing test at the age of six months. Should any impairment of development
be detected the child is referred to a specialist unit for a complete assessment.
"At risk" children who are not brought to the clinic are observed at home by the
health visitors. During the year, 906 children were added to the Observation
Register, being 15 per cent, of all births in the Borough. The total at the end of the
year was 2,454.
A register of all babies born with a congenital malformation is kept. This
information is obtained from the Notification of Birth. During the year, 71 cases
were notified and they fell into the following categories:—
Central Nervous System
Anencephalus 4
Encephalocele 1
Arnold Chiari malformation 1
Hydrocephalus 1
Meningocele 2
Spina Bifida 4
Ear
Minor defect 1
Alimentary System
Cleft palate 4
Hare lip 1
Oesophageal atresia 1
Diaphragmatic hernia 1
Uro-Genital System
Hypospadias 1
Defect of kidney 1
Other defects 3
Limbs
Dislocation of hip 2
Polydactyly 1
Talipes 25
Other defects 13
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