U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
CHILDREN’S BUREAU 
WASHINGTON 
STUDIES OF USE OF MILK BY FAMILIES HAVING LITTLE CHILDREN. 
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III. NEW ORLEANS. 
A study recently made by the nurses of the Child Welfare Association of New 
Orleans. La., under the direction of the Children’s Bureau of the United States 
Department of Labor, has revealed that children in New Orleans are getting less 
milk to drink than the children of Baltimore and Washington, where similar studies 
in the use of milk by families with little children have been made for the bureau. 
In Baltimore 66 per cent and in Washington 45 per cent of the children 7 years old 
and younger (exclusive of those who are breast fed) in families visited by the nurses 
who made the study are not receiving any milk to drink. But of 589 New Orleans 
|; children under 8 years of age in 211 families 70 per cent of the 483 who are not breast 
fed are getting no fresh milk whatever to drink, while only 31.7 per cent of those who 
are receiving some milk are getting as much as the. three cups daily, recommended 
for normal growth and development. 
Eighty-eight, or 41.7 per cent, of the 211 families are not using any fresh milk. 
In Baltimore, where 365 families were visited, 107, or 29.3 per cent, have been found 
to be receiving no milk, and in Washington, out of 272 families, only 19, or about 7 
per cent, are entirely without milk. The average daily amount purchased by the 
New Orleans families buying some milk is about the same as in Washington and 
slightly larger than in Baltimore. The comparative, figures are as follows: New 
Orleans, 1.1 quarts; Washington. 1.1 quarts; Baltimore, 1 quart. When it is con¬ 
sidered. however, that the families studied average six persons each; that in each 
family there are at least two children under 8; and that in four-fifths of the families 
there are children under 2, it will be seen how insufficient for the family needs are 
the 2 pints that constitute the average daily amount used. 
New Orleans mothers, like most other mothers, are more quick to realize that 
children under 2 need milk than they are to appreciate its importance in the diet of 
older children. The study indicates that the boys and girls between 2 and 7 are 
faring worse than the little babies. Only 24 per cent, or less than one-fourth, of the 
older children get fresh milk to drink, and only about one-fifth of those that are drink¬ 
ing some milk are getting 3 cups a day. On the other hand, 62.7 per cent of the babies 
under 2 who are not being nursed by their mothers are being given milk to drink, 
and more than one-half of this number are getting as much as the recommended 3 
cups. 
Children between 2 and 7 fared better last year, when 32.2 per cent of them received 
fresh milk to drink, and 34.6 per cent of that number received 3 cups daily. Since 
there is a baby under a year old this year in 49.3 per cent of the families as against 
31.8 per cent last year, it is possible that some of the milk formerly received by the 
older children is being diverted to the use of a newcomer. 
The fact that so many children are without fresh milk at once gives rise to the 
question. What are they getting in its place? The answer to this question, as revealed 
by the New Orleans study, gives cause for grave concern. Not only are the children 
being deprived of the best and most nourishing food for normal development, but 
they are receiving injurious substitutes for that food. Of the 338 children 7 years 
of age and younger not breast fed who are getting no fresh milk to drink. 245, or 72.5 
per cent, are being given tea or coffee, or both, in its stead. Of the remainder, 36, 
see??”—19 ...piesteci 
