FEEDING Food is recognized as of such importance in relation to infant mortality that studies of this subject frequently resolve themselves into studies of feeding only. Invariably these demonstrate the truth of the statement of Dr. G. F. McCleary[25] that “in human milk we have a unique and wonderful food for which the ingenuity of man may toil in vain to find a satisfactory substitute.” Many mothers, however, still fail to appreciate the risk their young babies face in being given any except the natural infant food, and consequently babies are in large numbers wholly or partly weaned from the breast in the earliest months of their lives. Footnote 25: Infantile Mortality and Infants’ Milk Depots. London. Breast feeding is far more general, comparatively, among the poorer mothers than among the well to do, as shown by the following summary which gives the number and per cent. of babies of mothers with husbands earning varying incomes, who had been completely weaned from the breast when they were 3, 6, or 9 months of age, respectively. For each of the periods indicated the percentage completely weaned from the breast is much greater in the groups where earnings are highest. TABLE 20.—DISTRIBUTION OF BABIES ALIVE AT 3, 6, AND 9 MONTHS OF AGE BY TYPE OF FEEDING AT EACH OF SAID AGES, ACCORDING TO ANNUAL EARNINGS OF FATHER AND NATIVITY OF MOTHER. ══════════════╤═════════════════════════════════════════ ANNUAL │ EARNINGS OF │ FATHER AND │ BABIES LIVING AT AGE OF— NATIVITY OF │ MOTHER. │ ──────────────┼────────────────────┬──────────────────── │ 3 months. │ 6 months. ──────────────┼──────┬─────────────┼──────┬───────────── │ │ Completely │ │ Completely │Total.│ weaned from │Total.│ weaned from │ │ breast. │ │ breast. ──────────────┼──────┼───────┬─────┼──────┼───────┬───── │ │Number.│ Per │ │Number.│ Per │ │ │cent.│ │ │cent. ──────────────┼──────┼───────┼─────┼──────┼───────┼───── Total │ 1,355│ 193│ 14.2│ 1,313│ 250│ 19.0 ══════════════╪══════╪═══════╪═════╪══════╪═══════╪═════ Under $624 │ 341│ 22│ 6.5│ 322│ 32│ 9.9 $625 to $899│ 358│ 48│ 13.4│ 351│ 63│ 17.9 $900 and │ 629│ 114│ 18.1│ 616│ 146│ 23.7 over[26] │ │ │ │ │ │ Not │ 27│ 9│ 33.3│ 24│ 9│ 37.5 reported[27]│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Mother │ 765│ 155│ 20.3│ 747│ 195│ 26.1 native │ │ │ │ │ │ ──────────────┼──────┼───────┼─────┼──────┼───────┼───── Under $624 │ 69│ 10│ 14.5│ 66│ 13│ 19.7 $625 to $899 │ 180│ 36│ 20.0│ 177│ 46│ 26.0