View report page

9.
Contrary to expectations the health of the toddler was not much
affected by war conditions. There was no serious epidemic and no real
hardship in the food rationing. In July the Government scheme for the
provision of milk at cheap rates bo expectant and nursing mothers and
young children and the revision of the Council's economic scale for supplying
accessories, such as cod liver oil find other vitamin containing foods
did much towards supplying any deficiencies in diet.
After the bombing began, however, many of the children spent considerable
periods of time in shelters or in the shelter rooms in their own
homes, In other oases young children and babies had to do the best they
could to sleep with lights burning in vitiated and anything but a quiet
atmosphere. Certain of the children were bound to suffer from these
conditions and this was shown by such symptoms as irritability, loss of
appetite, etc. Many of these cases were found to be the reflection of
parental anxieties. where the parents showed confidence and self
possession in the presence of the children the latter did not lose their
sense of security; they slept through a great deal of noise and accepted
the conditions as being unavoidable.
The position as regards the children under one year of age was not so
favourable and reference has been made in a previous section to the increase
in infantile mortality. The cause of this is largely speculative; it was
distributed fairly evenly throughout the year and therefore did not point
to shelter life or overcrowded sleeping conditions as being the main factor,
but pre-natal conditions may have had some influence. The ante-natal mother
is undoubtedly more affected by war conditions than any other civilian, as
she has the double anxiety for her own immediate future and the welfare of
her family, There may also have been a certain deficiency in her
physiological requirements in protein, iron, calcium and the vitamins; for
a diet sufficient for the individual may have proved inadequate for the
double purpose of nourishing the mother and at the same time building up a
healthy baby. Above all other foods milk contains the largest percentage
of the elements required and the Government scheme for the provision of
milk at reduced prices was based on e. realisation of this fact, and should
milk supplies become seriously restricted every step should be taken to