22S ERRONEOUS IDEAS ON INFANT MORTALITY 



advice and education. Give it to them, but in a form that is 

 palatable and digestible. 



Most Health Bureaus are hampered in their work by lack of 

 funds to carry on their plans. Insufficient funds for health meas- 

 ures are due to the public themselves. Appropriations are allotted 

 by representatives of the people, who are usually politicians 

 oftimes with an undeserved reputation for selfishness and for 

 furthering their own interests, yet they try to give the people 

 they represent that which is asked for. These representations 

 are guided by public opinion which is largely molded by the 

 newspapers of the day. Use them for honest purposes, as they 

 have done more for furthering health measures than any other 

 agency. 



It is admitted by all who have given thought to the question 

 of infant mortality that it is mainly a question of proper feeding. 

 We look to the attending physician for the proper feeding of 

 the infant. If he has attended the mother in her confinement, 

 we suppose he looks after the welfare of the child until it is 

 truly started in life. That time being when it has passed all 

 possible dangers following birth and is receiving its proper nour- 

 ishment. How many physicians carry out but part of this con- 

 tract? Few ever know afterward whether the child is breast or 

 artificially fed. The people realize this so well that it is seldom 

 the mother asks the physician who confined her anything about 

 the nourishment of the child. If the first attempt at feeding is 

 unsuccessful, the mother more often applies for advice to another 

 physician after repeated experiments by herself and neighbors. 

 The question then arises, Is this due to disinterest of the phy- 

 sician or does he not know how to feed the new born ? 



I believe it would be no exaggeration to assert that 50 per 

 cent, of the medical profession make no effort to supervise or 

 prescribe any feeding for the infant, leaving it entirely to the 

 mother or caretaker. Of the remaining, 40 per cent, order some 

 popular patented or proprietary food, thus allowing the mother 

 to follow printed directions which come with the bottle. Nine 

 of the remaining 10 per cent, of the profession follow some set 

 rules on percentage, or other methods of feeding, based on age. 

 The remaining 1 per cent., termed specialists, feed scientifically 

 according to the requirements of the child. The millions of 

 bottles of the various patented baby foods sold annually are tes- 

 timony to this assertion. 



By scientific infant feeding, I mean adapting cow's milk by 

 modification, to suit a baby's digestion, and giving it in quantities 

 and at intervals, which conform with the baby's normal capacity. 

 Some physicians claim that the majority of patients allow them 

 but one or two visits. The first formula in most cases is an 



