To what extent the relinquishment of household duties at a given time directly affected the health of the child can not be definitely shown. A relation may exist, but on the other hand the difference in the mortality rate may be due to the fact that the mothers could afford to give consideration to their condition and escape some of their heaviest tasks as their pregnancy approached its end, and were members of families who were thoughtful of them and relieved them of these tasks or employed extra household assistance at such times. Another indication of intelligence and of comfortable surroundings is the care given a mother in the early days of her baby’s life, particularly if she is a nursing mother. The duration of her rest period before the resumption of part of her household duties is one measure of this. The foreign mothers, with less education, more numerous and arduous tasks, less opportunity for leisure, and smaller incomes, begin to resume their housework sooner than the native mothers with young babies. TABLE 28.—DISTRIBUTION OF LIVE BIRTHS AND OF DEATHS DURING FIRST YEAR, AND INFANT MORTALITY RATE, ACCORDING TO TIME OF MOTHER RESUMING PART OF HOUSEHOLD DUTIES AFTER CONFINEMENT, BY NATIVITY OF MOTHER. ═══════════════════════════╤══════════════════════════╤════════════════ TIME OF RESUMING PART OF │ │ DEATHS DURING HOUSEHOLD DUTIES AFTER │ LIVE BIRTHS TO— │ FIRST YEAR. CONFINEMENT. │ │ ───────────────────────────┼────────┬────────┬────────┼──────┬───────── │ All │ Native │Foreign │ │ Infant │mothers.│mothers.│mothers.│Total.│mortality │ │ │ │ │ rate. ───────────────────────────┼────────┼────────┼────────┼──────┼───────── Total │ 1,463│ 815│ 648│ 196│ 134.0 ═══════════════════════════╪════════╪════════╪════════╪══════╪═════════ 8 days or less │ 467│ 44│ 423│ 79│ 169.2 9 to 13 days │ 560│ 446│ 114│ 70│ 125.0 14 days or more │ 427│ 318│ 109│ 41│ 96.0 Mother died or not reported│ 9│ 7│ 2│ 6│ ([28]) ───────────────────────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴──────┴───────── Footnote 28: Total number of live births less than 50; base therefore considered too small to use in computing an infant mortality rate.