[Report 1905] / Medical Officer of Health, Bury County Borough.

Bury (Greater Manchester, England). County Borough Council.

Date:: 1905

Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1905] / Medical Officer of Health, Bury County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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During the course of my visits I regret to- find the apathy exhi- bited by some mothers with regard to the general welfare and the feeding of their children, e.g. : (a) The giving of solid food during the first few weeks of life. [h] Negligence with regard to the washing of babies’ bottles after use. (c) Adherence to the use of the old-fashioned bottle with its long tube, soi liable to^ become offensive. (d) Preparation of large quantities of food, in order to last the whole day, instead of being prepared as required. (c) The neglect of taking the children into the open air. In very few instances have I come across mothers who make a practice of giving their children a daily airing. Of the 1,271 births registered, 124 died before the end of the year. Of these 43, or 34.68 per cent., occurred in breast-fed children, and 81, or 65.32 per cent., occurred in children fed by bottle. Occupation of Mothers.^—In 987 instances the mother was engaged at home, and in 268 cases the mother was engaged in the mill. Deaths.—184 deaths have been recorded of children under one year of age. The following is an analysis of the nature of feeding-, Nc. : — 120, or 65.22 per cent., were bottle-fed. 48, or 26.09 cent., were fed naturally. In the remaining cases (16) the character of feeding was not obtained, this number including those prematurely born and those dying shortly after birth. Of the above deaths (184), 33 were attributed to Diarrhoea, and from the information obtained it was found that 27, or 82 per cent., occurred in bottle-fed children, as compared with six, or 18 per cent., in children who’ were fed naturally, thus showing the greater liability of bottle-fed children tO' this disease. During the summer months I impressed upon mothers the desirability of seeing that the bottles were thoroughlv scalded after use ; also that the food (especially milk) be kept covered and in a cool place, in order to keep out the dust and flies.