OUR BABIES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12537, 7 May 1915, Page 1

OUR BABIES.

JivrHygeia

Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. : "It is wiser 'to put up a fence at the top of a. precipice thin to maintain an ambulance at- the bot- ; torn." '. EDUCATION AND', INFANT WEL- ■ FARE. —England Waking Up.— [ It is a hopeful sign to find a. column: in the latest British Medical Journal devoted to a report by the medical or-. ;ficer to the Board of Education on the subject of "Education and Infant Welfare." .'•'Until'this- year: the reports have •dealt with the condition of the school child: Attention has been focussed on the improvement of the child's environment in school and the amelioration of such defects as are found to hinder it* progress in school. This work and also- the marked attention ;that has been drawn to the hereditary., factors in disease have had the result of throwing . back the focus of attention, so that it is to the infant, and still more to. the mother of the infant, that attention is being-directed.

"The diseases of- the school child arc the result in too many cases of neglected infantilt conditions, and these,

again, are the result of maternal neglect, or of ignorance in the young ■mother. : ; —Education in Mo there raft- a State ■Necessity.—

"The"education of tlie mother is thus recognised as a factor of primary importance, and with that there is the • acknowledgment of MOTHERCRAFT as one oF the chief—if. indeed, it be .•not the -chief—industry of the State. "Infant mortality is still too high, in 1913 no fewer than • 95.801-children ;under one year of age died in Eugdaud and Wales,, or 108 per cent, per 1000 of births. 'That the condition of the mother lias much to do with the vitality of her child is shown by the fact that- of legitimate- births the deathrate was' 104. whilst of illegitimate births it was as high as 21-3. The figures show a decline on past years; but they are still too high. The most serious causes of mortality arc given as: Epidemic diarrhoea- and enteritis, duo to bad' feeding; prematurity and immaturity and congenital defects, due in part to "poor -maternal physique, or disease; bronchitis and pneumonia, due to exposure to cold and infection. These three groups are responsible lor 70 per cent, of the deaths. —A Colossal Loss. — "The lost labor and energy represented in these infant deaths, not to 'Lake into consideration . the potential loss of to many lives, is colossal. So many women have for nine months been' semi-invalided, and all to iio'purpose. They have given ot their lifeenergy, and all to no purpose. They have sustained the shock of birth and .the added shock of the loss of the child. Again, these things liavo now a monetary value, since the pregnant- woman costs the insurance funds so much foilier temporary incapacity, and the mat-entity .allowance is wasted. It is therefore on the meanest grounds good policy to spend in the hope of retrieving such heavy wastage as this.

—The Remedy.— ' "■\Vhat is proposed is the concentration of attention on improved feeding, higher standard 'of maternal physique, and appropriate infant- management. Those are the direct- personal matters •'that require remedy. In addition, there are certain external causes of infant- mortality—"domestic insanit-ation in the widest sense of. the term, industrial employment of married women, unsatisfactory systems of the disposal of excreta, the unfavorable conditions of urban life, overcrowding, unsaved yards and streets, inefficient scavenging, poverty, and filth-" Of these wo would place the employment of married women as the chier offender.

—England Following a French Lead.— "Mothercraft is now being taught in •the public elementary schools, not only by way of lessons in personal hygiene and domestic economy, but by arrangements whereby parties of girls attend at- schools for mothers, day nurseries, and the like. Similar work is done in the secondary schools, and in the evening classes for adolescents and adults.'' [Extracts from Medical Report to .Board of Education, as published in the British Medical' Journal for March 20, 1915.]

—Mot-hercraft Education in Xew Zealand Schools. —

Between five and six years ago the first definite series of'school lessons in mothercraft. in the Dominion was given at-the Timaru Technical School by the Plunkefc Nurse, Miss Bowman, who was the first matron of the Karitane Hospital. This was a. course of seven lectures and demonstrations, arranged for by Mr Grant,. the headmaster of the school, who spoke very warmly as to the excellence of the teaching and the great interest shown by.the girls who attended. «

Equally striking is the testimony of the headmaster of the Nelson High •School, in reference to a series of nine lectures recently inaugurated at his institution by the local Plunkefc Nurse, Miss Morgan, whose course is outlined below*.

•I cite the cases of Timaru'and Nelson merely because their courses of school teaching ill mothercraft represent respectively the first and the most recent that have come under,our notice. Similar work has been done by Nurse. Chappell in the North. Island and by Miss Baker, the Plunket. Nurse at Oamaru, and by others. —Mothercraft Syllabus for Nelson High School. — Lecture I. —Air. Abundance of pure, cool, outside air flowing fresh and 'free day and night, etc. Lecture II. —Food. Birth to nine 'months. Demonstration —making No. 1 Humanised Milk. Lecture 111. —Food nine months lo two years. Demonstration—making Humanised Milk No. 2. Lecture IV.- —Cleanliness, bathing, .clothing. Demonstration batlu • ing baby. Lecture. V.—Muscular exercise aud sensory stimulation. "Warmth, regularity of t all habits. Demonstration. Lecture VI. Mothering, management, rest and sleep. Demonstration—making; baby's bed. Lecture Vll.—Milestones on baby's road. ; Lecture ''VIII. —Cries of baby. Lecture IX.—Teeth, dummy or comforter. Demonstration.