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77
visiting. On the other hand, as, at the clinics, each mother is
personally interviewed by the health visitor there is, in the case of
the more regular attenders, less need for frequent home visits.
The following table shows the work done at the Infant Welfare
Centres during the year:—
Total attendances at all Centres:—
(1) By children under one year of age ... 43,305
(2) By children between the ages of one and
five years 28,098
Total number of children who first attended at the Centres
during the year and who on the date of their first attendance
were:—
(1) Under one year of age 2,484
(2) Between the ages of one and five years 1,370
Total number of children under five years of age who attended
at the Centres during the year and who at the end of the year
were:—
(1) Under one year of age 2,047
(2) Over one year of age 5,472
The percentage of total notified births represented by the
number of children under one year of age who attended for the
first time was 87. The percentage of total registered births was 80.
TODDLERS.
In March, 1936, a weekly toddlers' clinic was opened at the
Broadway Clinic, the object being to arrange quarterly inspections
for a limited number of children, the actual inspection following
much on the lines of the routine medical inspection of school
children, sufficient children being invited to ensure an attendance
of about twenty at each session. Towards the end of the year
fortnightly sessions were opened at Rayners Lane and at the
Elmwood Avenue Clinic. During the past year as the number of
applicants at the Rayners Lane area exceeded those at Broadway,
the Rayners Lane clinic was held weekly and the Broadway Clinic
fortnightly.
As to whether toddlers are better dealt with at the ordinary
infant welfare centres or at separate toddlers' sessions depends
partly on the district. In rural communities there may not be
sufficient numbers of toddlers to warrant a separate session, or
most of the toddlers would be brought to the centre with a smaller
baby and the mother would not wish the double journey. The
fact that the toddlers' problems, however, are so different from those
of the infant justifies a separate session where it is practicable. In