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week after marriage, Mr. Y. lost his work, and Mrs. Y was obliged to support herself
and her husband by working at her sewing-machine many hours daily right up to
the time of her confinement. The infant seems to have been in a satisfactory condition
at birth, but soon after began to deteriorate ; I visited frequently for a long
while. The father had, a short time previously to the child's birth, obtained work,
and the mother was at liberty to devote herself to the infant, on whom she lavished
the greatest possible care ; the infant was taken regularly for medical advice, as an
out-patient to a Babies' Home, and finally admitted to the Home, where it died
when 5 months old.
(II) Due to post-natal conditions.
With the exception of cases of wasting caused by ante-natal conditions, there is
little doubt that wasting whether it ends fatally or not, is largely produced by
improper feeding, which is, in this Borough, to some extent due to poverty.
Many nursing-mothers do not have a sufficiently generous diet to enable them
to produce good milk ; many who employ artificial feeding are not able to afford
as much fresh milk as is necessary, and dilute the milk too freely, or fall back on the
use of machine skimmed condensed milk.
There are also cases of improper feeding due to ignorance, and often to prejudice
in favour of following time-honoured methods, regardless of the results produced.
Summer Diarrhoea.
The total number of infant deaths from Summer Diarrhoea was 54. Nine of
these were infants whom I had visited, so that I have no doubt as to the method
of feeding in these cases. Eight were entirely and one was partly artificially fed ;
three of them occurred in clean, well-kept homes.
I investigated in 29 of the 46 remaining cases. Twenty-five of these were said
to be entirely artificially fed, and four entirely naturally fed. Of these four, one
was a case in which the vomiting and diarrhoea appeared to be the result of brain
disease. In the other three cases, although no artificial feeding was said to have
occurred, the infants used "comforters," which probably acted as carriers of
infection.
In some cases the homes were clean and well kept, and in others they were dirty
and untidy. In accordance with my usual practice I reported the insanitary condition
of three of these houses to the Medical Officer of Health.
Housing Conditions.
Many of the houses visited, although not " insanitary " in a technical sense of
the word, are by no means satisfactory as homes, and their condition must have a
prejudicial effect on the health of both parents and children. The fault lies chiefly
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