London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Woolwich 1907

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Woolwich]

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165
(8). Only those children are admitted to the Depôt whose mothers
are unable to suckle them, or who are actually found to be
wasting on the mother's milk.
(4). The milk is Pasteurized (i.e., raised to a temperature of 170°.)
during the chief part of the year, and sterilized (i.e., raised to
a temperature of 212°) in hot weather.
(5). The Depôt is supplied with milk produced from healthy cows
under cleanly conditions.
(G). 313 children were fed during the year; 117 were being fed daily
on December 31st, 1907. The average duration of feeding was
three months.
(7). The cost of the milk prevents many children from having it who
require it.
(8). The reason for children coming on the Depôt was in nearly all
cases illness of the mother or failure or insufficiency of the
mother's milk.
(9). More than half the families of children fed lived in tenements of
one, two, or three rooms.
(10). The average age of the children when commencing the milk
was 2.9 months.
(11). Of the 313 children, 170 were ill or in delicate health when
commencing the milk. 170 children were recommended to the
Depôt by medical men or by lying-in-hospitals.
(12). 171 children were weighed two or more times. Of these, 94
gained the average or more than the average weight.
(13). Of the 94 notified cases of zymotic enteritis (diarrhoea), only
four were Depôt-fed infants.
(14). Only 18 deaths occurred among the infants while having Depôt-
milk. Six of these were dying when admitted and died within
a week. Two further deaths occurred within a week of giving
up the milk.
This is a very small number of deaths considering the
large proportion of delicate children. Most of the infants
throve well, and many who were ill made remarkable progess.
(15). The cost of the Depôt was equivalent to a rate of 1/7 penny.
K