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Following the receipt of this Circular, at the direction of the
Council, I laid this special report before them on October 31st.
Public Offices,
Enfield.
October 3lst. 1914.
Special Report of the Medical Officer of Health
— re —
Infantile Mortality, Notification of Births Act,
Maternity and Child Welfare.
The Notification of Births Act, 1907, provides for the giving
of notice in writing to the Medical Officer of Health of the District,
by the father (and) or any person in attendance on the Mother at
the time of the birth of a child.
This notice is to be given within 36 hours of the event by
posting a prepaid letter or postcard addressed to the Medical Officer
of Health, giving the necessary information, or by delivering a
written notice of the birth at the office or residence of the Medical
Officer of Health within the same time. Section 3, provides a
penalty for any person who fails to give notice, with the proviso
that he shall not be liable if he satisfies the court that he had reasonable
grounds to believe that notice had been duly given by some
other person.
The Act applies to any child born after the 28th week of
pregnancy, whether alive or dead.
The object of this Act is that special attention may be given to
infants, and that Mothers may be instructed in the best methods of
rearing their children.
Among the lower animals (and perhaps among human beings
in prehistoric times) maternal instinct may be relied upon to a great
extent to shield the little ones from many dangers, but the present
conditions of life are so complex and so artificial, we are all so
dependent on our environment, and so utterly incapable of carrying
on a separate and independent existence, that instincts of all kinds
have become more or less atrophied, and I regret to say that the
maternal instinct is no exception to the general rule. The mother
of the present day cannot expect to know instinctively what is the
best food to give her infant, what are the best surroundings in which
it should be placed, and what hygienic conditions will give it the
best chance of surviving its advent into the world.