Feeding Difficulties in Infancy

In the considerable literature dealing with feeding problems in infancy that has been published in recent years, underfeeding and the mother's lack of education in infant management have been presented as the chief causes (Robbins, 1948;Illingworth, 1949;Dundon, 1951 ;Neale, 1952;Vining, 1952;Naish, 1953).With this in mind, it seemed worthwhile analysing the admissions to the Violet Melchett Mothercraft Home, where the majority of infants are taken in on account of feeding difficulties, though a few are admitted because of general mismanagement or nutritional disorders follow- ing acute illness.The analysis deals with all babies, or mothers and babies, admitted during the year from October, 1953.Most of the cases were from the London County Council area, but some came from the Home *This work was done during the tenure of the A. M.