A study of the bearing of infants in Gwalior city (Madhya Pradesh)

Summary  A study of the records relating to child birth at one of the maternity centres in Gwalior was made to collect certain base line data. The material for study was available from September 1958 to December 1961, covering 2,927 births. The average birth-weight was found to be 2,893 grammes. The incidence of ‘low birth-weight’ was found to be 18.6 per cent. The parity of mothers ranged from 1 to 16. 15.7 per cent of the mothers were primiparas and 84.3 per cent were multiparas. About one-fifth of the mothers were below the age of 20 years, and 80 per cent below the age of 30 years. The distribution of mothers by caste showed that 33 different castes availed themselves of the institutional facilities. Some communities like the Jain did not avail themselves freely of these facilities. The sex-ratio at birth showed 952 females per 1,000 males. The average number of terminations per mother under review was found to be 4.4. The still-birth rate was 14.3 per 1,000 total births. The incidence of twinbirths was found to be 0.5 per cent. Five infants (0.1 per cent) had congenital defects. The mortality within 24 hours of birth was found to be 20.8 per 1,000 live births.