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MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE.
Notification of Births.
The birth rate for 1930 was 18.2. There were 6,428 live
births and 195 stillbirths (total births, 6,623) officially notified in
accordance with the Notification of Births Act, 1907.

These figures represent the net number of births of West Ham
residents.
Health Visiting.
All children born in the Borough are visited at intervals during
infancy and up to 5 years of age, when the child passes over
to the care of the School Medical Service. Summary cards are
made out by the Health Visitors for all children when they enter
School at 4—5 years of age, and are passed to the
School Medical Officer: the notes on the cards regarding
methods of feeding in infancy, physical and mental development
of the child in its early years, any illnesses from which it has
suffered, are of great service at the first and subsequent School
Medical Inspections, and serve to link together these two branches
of the Public Health Service.
On receiving a notification of birth, the Health Visitor of the
district visits the mother and baby on the eleventh day, i.e., after
the doctor or midwife has presumably ceased to attend. Thereafter
visits are paid at quarterly intervals till 2 years of age, and
every six months from 2—5 years of age. This is the minimum
of visits paid; more frequent visits are paid to all necessitous
cases, e.g. premature or ailing babies. Advice is given
to the mother on the general care of infants and young children
: on general hygiene, and on her own health, etc. In addition,
the mothers are advised where they may obtain extra nourishment
or help in necessitous cases. The work and aim of the
Infant Welfare Clinics is explained, and the mothers are encouraged
to attend the Centres with their children. Infant Welfare
Centre work is based on home visiting, and much valuable information
can be gained by the Medical Officer of the Clinic
from the Health Visitors regarding home conditions of the families
who attend the Clinic. The Health Visitors, in return, are kept
in touch with the advice given to these mothers at the Centres, so
that they may follow their cases up to see that the advice is being
carried out, and to explain more fully the instructions given at
the Clinics. In 1930, 79% of infants under one year of age were
taken to the Infant Welfare Clinics in the Borough—a testimony
to the work of the Health Visitors in their home visiting.
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