Report on the public health of Finsbury for the year 1911.

  • Finsbury (London, England). Metropolitan Borough.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Report on the public health of Finsbury for the year 1911. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    22 The children breast fed are nearly twice as many as those fed in other ways. The number of children fed exclusively on patent food is very small. Fifteen children were being fed on boiled bread, biscuits, and other unsuitable foods. There is reason to believe that the use of boiled bread either alone, or in combina tion with other foods, is far too common amongst Finsbury mothers for their babies. Here is a method of preparing it given by one of the mothers affected :— Take one slice of bread, and boil it in a pint of water until it becomes a pulp. Strain through linen or muslin, and then beat up with a little butter. Give a baby of three months half a teacupful twice or three times a day. This boiled bread for infants is a most unsuitable food, and can not be too severely condemned. The large number of mothers who breast-feed their children, is matter for much congratulation. One mother, whose husband was unemployed, returned to her work three weeks after her confinement, and, though debilitated, jaundiced, and anaemic, came home at every meal-time to breast feed her baby. Another mother had rheumatic gout when she was 17 years, had since married, and had 5 children, all living. Later she became so crippled that she was unable to hold her baby to the breast, but had to get her husband or a neighbour to do it for her. These examples of maternal devotion and self sacrifice could be multiplied many times in Finsbury. Condition when first brought. —Six of the children were premature and consequently very delicate: 261 or 55 per cent, were fat, 76 were thin, and 138, or nearly one-third, were definitely wasting, due to irregularities of feeding, improper or unsuitable food. The large percentage of wasting children is very deplorable, and shows the need there still is for sound, practical, common sense supervision and instruction. Age when first brought.—41 were under 1 month, 210 were between 1 and 3 months, 103 between 3 and 6 months, 112 between 6 and 12 months, ana 15 over 12 months old.