Statistical analysis of infant mortality and its causes in the United Kingdom / by Helen M. Blagg.

  • Blagg, Helen M.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Statistical analysis of infant mortality and its causes in the United Kingdom / by Helen M. Blagg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    needed. Cards of instruction as to feeding, etc., are distri- buted, and the health visitor, if tactful, is usually welcomed as a friend. Some little difficulty is occasionally found owing to the opposition of the untrained midwife or older mothers, who are full of ignorant superstitions, such as that it is unlucky to weigh a child, that a baby is starved on only milk and water, and needs flour, bread, etc., in addition. Mothers are addressed at their meetings on such topics as “ Infant Feeding and the Care of the Child,” “ Health in the Home,” “ The Functions of the Blood,” “Epidemic Diar- rhoea. Practical demonstrations are given on poultice- making, the use of compresses, etc., working girls instructed on such subjects as “ Health in the Workshop,” “Personal Hygiene (Salford). Health visitors have also been instru- mental in obtaining most useful statistics. (See Table IX.) (b) Aids to Mothers. A system of insurance for the extra expenses of confinement, and for the enforced cessation from work, is a great need in the working classes. In some places charitable agencies or provident maternity clubs collect the payments, but the plan is not as largely adopted as it might be. Food f<pr nursing mothers was first provided free by voluntary agencies in France, where several simple restau- rants have been started in which any mother bringing a baby at the breast can receive a free and nourishing meal. It has been proposed that power should be given to provide the necessary food for pregnant and nursing mothers out of the public funds in England, as the Poor Law Commission Report of 1909 abundantly proves that the present system quite fails to relieve the destitution which often causes Infant mortality. For the good of both mother and infant the woman whose resources actually do not permit of her procuring sufficient nourishment should receive assistance from some source, either public or private. (See also under Milk Depots.) The Midwives Act should help to lessen the rate of infant