A further investigation of breast-feeding: A Study of One Thousand Mothers.

The following investigations were undertaken in order to find the cause of the variation in the breast-feeding rate which, in a previous paper (Robinson, 1939), was shown to occur from year to year. The breast-feeding rate for 1937 was reassessed monthly according to the date on which the babies were born. Table 1 shows that the swing is still present and has no relation to the seasons of the year. The percentage of babies still on the breast at the ninth month is highest (44 per cent.) for those born in February, and lowest (16 per cent.) for those born in August. April and July give the highest (49 per cent.) and February the lowest (32 per cent.) percentage weaned during the first month. The duration of breast-feeding was calculated for 3,515 babies in accordance with the position of the child in the family, judged by the parity of the mother and not by the number of living children in the family at the time when the child was first seen. Table 2 shows the month of weaning of 3,515 babies classified according to their position in the family judged by the parity of the mother, and shows percentages weaned by the end of the first, third and seventh months and those still left on the breast during the eighth month. Families of nine or more children were too few to analyse. It appears from table 2 that the position of the child in 23