Many Babies Not Wanted

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31657, 18 April 1968, Page 2

Many Babies Not Wanted

Maternity hospitals would be happy places if it were not for the small portion of patients whose lives were unhappy and whose babies were unwanted, the matron of St Helens Hospital (Miss M. Fraser) said yesterday.

Miss Fraser, who was guest speaker at the annual meeting of the Canterbury East Federation of Country Women’s Institutes, said that 2000 babies were born at St Helens last year and one in eight was illegitimate.

“They are horrified when the child welfare officer visits them to say that their baby has not been adopted and is still their responsibility. They cannot understand why every mother in New Zealand is not clamouring to adopt the baby they love so much. "It is very pathetic when the girls come back. They ring up in a frenzy to say they have no money and no baby clothes. “We have a supply, mostly given by country women’s institutes, which the babies can wear home. I Often feel that this is the best dressed the child will ever be.”

Most single girls were ashamed of their condition and did not want their babies during pregnancy; but after the birth their maternal instinct was aroused and their babies meant far more to them than they had imagined. Although every girl was asked to bring a set of clothes for her baby only one in 10 did so. When their maternal instinct was aroused those who had money wanted to give their baby something and they usually bought a rattle, “quite useless, but they felt they must give it something,” said Miss Fraser. Adoptive parents were found for some but many of these babies were left at the hospital. After a fortnight they were an absolute liability in the hospital. They required a great deal of care and nursing services were very expensive. “Unwanted babies are cluttering up the hospital and costing the country a great deal of money. It seems sad that these little things who did not ask to be born are such an absolute nuisance” Babies soon grew out of the perspex bassinets. The hospital had only one dropside cot, and had recently acquired two prams (both supplied by members of the C.W.1.). which were suitable for larger babies. But by the time a baby was one month old it was an embarrassment to the hospital. The Child Welfare Department worked very hard and often had to take a baby simply because it was too old for the hospital. “Babies need a mother. Nurses work in eight-hour shifts and no matter how lovely and cuddly the baby is, he has at least three mothers each day. “Babies need a mother, no matter what kind of a mother she is. When he is a fortnight old he already knows whether or not he has a mother and so reacts to the world accordingly. “This is one reason why we try to push them out, because any mother is better than no mother.

Although the girls were passionately fond of their babies and were prepared in the beginning to make great sacrifices, many babies ended up on the Salvation Army's doorstep about six months later, said Miss Fraser. “Girls do make tremendous sacrifices for their babies, but eventually the burden becomes too much for them. The only one who appreciate their sacrifices is the baby and he has no way of showing it. But there is nothing more tragic than a baby without a mother.’ Because many pregnant single girls did not look after themselves properly during their pregnancies, and tried to induce a miscarriage by drugs or other means, their babies were often born ab normal or so premature that they were scarcely more than miscarriages. These babies found their way to the very expensive neo-natal intensive care unit in the hospital. “It is easy to say you don't have to keep them alive, but it is not so easy to let them die. The neo-natal unit is a very sad place. I sometimes wonder if we are not filling our mental hospitals right from the cradle. Babies who are born without formed ears will never hear and those whose eyes are not properly developed will never see."

“When we can’t find a sufli cient number of adoptive parents many girls have to keep their babies.