Motel births an ‘ideal set-up’

Press, 17 January 1979, Page 6

Motel births an ‘ideal set-up’

PA Auckland Babies should be born in| homely motel units complete! with rocking chairs and double beds, attached to obstetric hospitals, according • to Professor G. Liggins, pro-; fessor of obstetrics and, 'gynaecological endocrinology ! at Auckland University. This would be the ideal 'child birth set-up, he said. “Instead we are stuck; with two extremes — the ‘ivory tower or the home,’ he told about 100 delegates at the quadrennial conference of the Home Science Association in Auckland; yesterday. A homelv atmosphere was best at birth where there i .was immediate contact withj Smother, father, and siblings, ;

and where effective bonding [could take place, Professor (Liggins said. Home births had risks, however, as roughly one half of the complications at [birth arose unexpectedly. Professor Liggins agreed “absolutely” with a suggestion that hospital techniques and comments from nurses tended to undermine the [young mother’s attitude completely. , Motel units should be “hitched on” to the side of I the obstetric hospital with a “big, big door between.” There the family should reign supreme with no regulations and with the doctor and midwife disicreetly in the background ‘providing support.