Baby Nurture In U.S. Surprises N.Z. Mother

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28475, 3 January 1958, Page 2

Baby Nurture In U.S. Surprises N.Z. Mother

"When a woman has a baby in an American maternity hospital she stays there three days if she has a girl, four days if she has a boy and one extra day if she is lucky and if the hospital is not crowded,” says Mrs Dolores Small, who recently returned from the United States with her husband and year-old daughter, Jennifer.

Mrs Small had her baby at the hospital attached to the Ohio State University in. Columbus, and was there just under three days. At the time her husband, Dr. J. J. Small, was studying at the university for his Ph.D. degree in the Department of Education, after being awarded a Fulbright travelling grant in New Zealand. Attitude to Mothering

This was Mrs Small’s first baby and she could not make comparisons with early nurture methods in New Zealand. “But it seemed to me that American mothers have quite a different attitude to bringing up babies to women in New Zealand,” she said. “In the United States, mothers want to get back to the full swing of life, including their social programmes, as soon as possible after the baby is bom. Many mothers, too, are in a hurry to go back to work.”

Very few women breast fed their babies for as long as three months. Even fewer attempted natural feeding at all. Doctors encouraged it, but mothers usually found a reason for not being able to do so, she said. Junior Food Mixes

With the tremendous variety of ready mixed baby foods available on the market, the American mother could easily find the foods most suitable for her baby. B> bottle feeding the baby from an, early age she could soon resume her normal night life, such as attending club meetings or going out with her husband, and leave a baby-sitter to give the child its 10 p.m. feed. American mothers could select from about five well-known brands of ready-mixed baby foods, each with some 30 varieties. Chicken soup, strained meats and vegetables, puddings and fruits, as well as cereals, were a few examples. “They all have beautiful flavours and are made up in a fine consistency. The babies love them,” she said.

Babies are put on to solid food about two weeks old, usually beginning with a cereal. Most of them are started on readyprepared vegetables and fruits at six weeks and on finely-chopped meat from junior food varieties from the age of about eight months. Less Work A mother who is able to buy baby food which only needs heating and serving and can send ‘the baby’s Washing td a diaper service than the New Zealand mother who must regard a small baby as a full-time job. Housekeeping also has been made as simple as possible for the American housewife by the introduction of supermarkets. Here a shopper can buy in an hour everything she needs in the way of supplies for a week, including bread, meat and frozen vegetables. Everyone has a refrigerator, most of • them with a deep-freeze unit. Modern household amenities, too, are planned to save a woman’s time, so that she can have plenty of leisure for her own interests. Frozen Dinners “The supermarkets sell complete dinners in frozen packs. All you have to do is put them in the oven to heat, eat the food and throw away the aluminium plate, ’ said Mrs Small. American housewives, however, were extremely “vitamin-con-scious” and served green salads with dinner always and usually with luncheon, she said. Every type of mix for baking made home cooking a simple chore. “Cakes can be made cheaper from a packet of mix than by buying the individual ingredients, apart from the saving of time," she said. “These mixes have completely spoiled me. I’ll have to start learning to bake when I begin cooking here.” Housekeeping is expensive in the United States and Mrs Small found it a challenge to balance her budget. Butter is 6s a lb, a |lb loaf of bread is Is 8d and milk is 2s for a 320 z quart. Interest in N.Z.

While they were in Columbus, Dr. Small and Mrs Small were frequently asked to give talks on New Zealand to clubs and organisations. The people were extremely interested in the Dominion but it was not uncommon to find members of the audience who did not know where New Zealand was on the map or that English was the language of the country.

Club life and community activities were an integral part of the American woman’s life even if she had children, said Mrs Small. It was quite a common practice for a mother to play bridge or go to her club in the afternoon until it was time to call for her children at school. Mrs Small found the women in United States extremely interested in world affairs. They listen attentively to hourly headline news broadcasts.

They were genuinely concerned about day-to-day world happenings.

Before her marriage Mrs Small, as Miss Dolores Woodley, was an active member of the Christchurch Repertory Society. She will be remembered as the lead in the society’s productions of “An Inspector Calls,” “Ten Bittle Niggers,” and “Overtime.” While she was in-Ohio she did not take part in amateur stage productions. Amateur drama in Ohio was not as well organised as it was in New Zealand, she said. It was confined mainly to student groups which did not have the facilities that amateur players would expect in New Zealand. Discussing television, Mrs Small said: “The best programmes are very good. As a medium, television is remarkable, but it has become far too time-consuming in the life of women and children.

“There may be times when I’ll long for a packet of American cookie mix when I’m baking against time; but television 1 shall never miss.”