NUTRITIVE VALUE OF RAW AND BOILED MILK 195 



series attended the infant consultation from about the tenth day 

 of life onwards, up to the end of the first year and even later. 



Infants coming into the breast-fed series had all been breast-fed 

 for at least four months after birth. Comparatively few had been 

 fed for as short a period as this, and the great proportion of them 

 had received natural food for from six to nine months. At this 

 latter age weaning was carried out by the recommendation of the 

 medical officer to the consultation. Three hundred such cases 

 were taken for investigation. 



Of the artificially fed babies the majority had been artificially 

 fed from birth or from about the first week after birth, only a few 

 having received the breast for some weeks ; two hundred and four 

 cases were taken. Detailed figures relating to both series are 

 given in Appendix D. 



These babies were brought up for weighing regularly, usually 

 at intervals of ten days, sometimes at fortnightly intervals. The 

 weight was recorded on each occasion, and the child was seen by the 

 medical officer. The method of feeding was prescribed by the 

 doctor, and noted on the medical record. Observations in regard 

 to the child's progress, the presence of minor ailments, presence 

 of teeth, etc., were also recorded. 



In order to obtain comparable series, it was necessary to work 

 up the actual age of the child in days on each of the occasions on 

 which it was weighed. The weights of the infants in each series, 

 i.e. breast-fed and artificially-fed, which had attained the same 

 day of life, were then added together and divided by the number of 

 observations available. For convenience it was necessary to group 

 these into periods of eight days. The results of this grouping 

 were then tabulated. They are given fully in the Appendix and 

 shown graphically on the diagram, on the next page. 



It will be necessary to consider this diagram in three divisions : 



1. The early days of life. 



2. The period from about six weeks to six months. 



3. The period from six months onwards. 



First Period. A detailed investigation of the first period is 

 somewhat beyond the scope of this present work. The number 

 of observations was small compared with those of a later age, and 

 hence somewhat less reliable. The divergence between the two 

 groups was examined by statistical methods and was shown to be 

 attributable in large measure to the difference in the methods of 

 feeding. At this period of life special value attaches to breast- 

 feeding, and the infant put upon artificial food from birth apparently 

 suffers more markedly in the early days than later. The cause 

 of this has already been investigated in previous chapters, and it 

 is not necessary to deal with it any further here. Complications 

 evidently arise in this period in regard to the loss of weight which 

 occurs in all children during the early days after birth. 



