Maternity hospital to provide viewing room
. ' .By.
KEN COATES
in London '
Mothers who have their babies at Britain’s famous maternity - .hospital, Queen Charlotte’s; in London, will soon be able to make the birth a special occasion for fathers and older, children. A special family viewing room will be brought , into use in January. - - > " According to the chainrian of the hospital’s medical committee,, , Mr, . Thomas Lewis, a consultant obstetrician, the room will be made to look as much like a bedroom at home as possible; , It would ’bi. "up to- -expectant-. t mothers,, to .invite whom they wanted, “But we don’t want it like Piccadilly Circus,”- Mr -Lewis said.’:;! &£ “Obviously the size of the room will determine how many people can, get.it, but the; whole idea is, to make it feel like home.” ' > .'■<? . •He? said the hospital expected mothers to ' be' sensible and. tell young ' children to go. off and play- when things got’ difficult; - It'would probably be'the husband and perhaps Tan'S elder t daughter who remained throughout.; ’ ' ’ • But.all Sedatives would be eligible to attend a birth, as long as-there was sufficient room.■; for them,? Mr - Lewis said? ' ' /
Mr Stanley Weaver, the 141-bed’ hospital-s chief I administrator, admits to 1 mixed feelings about the ] idea. ’■V .. - Viewing .rooms /were,,;_the “in” thing in.’ the- United J States, but some people said < they -were a nuisance and. caused infection. “ But he- hoped the idea would succeed at Queen Charlotte’s. Only mothers expecting normal deliveries would be allowed to use the family, room, and births would be “natural” without : monitoring or any other equipment being usedt If something went wrong medically, the mother would be moved to another room. ; /. .The : introduction of the' viewing room is an exten-. sion of the “bonding”’theories which have been responsible for the medical profession’s .encouraging : fathers to attend births. Addressing the British Psychological Society, Mr Charles Lewis, a part-time ■ lecturer at Nottingham, said i i recently that about 75 per I cent; : of fathers attended (births, . Most fathers who saw ■ their children being born res garded it as “a wonderful ; experience,” he said. ’ t It helped the relationship
Mr Lewis said there had been no research on the. effect of a family’s being present at a birth, but it was possible that seeing their mother in pain might have a harmful effect, ron children?} . ; ‘
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19801227.2.71.4
Bibliographic details
Press, 27 December 1980, Page 7
Word Count
386Maternity hospital to provide viewing room Press, 27 December 1980, Page 7
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.