Call to help new mothers

Press, 17 May 1989, Page 9

Call to help new mothers

New mothers need a Government-funded home-help service after their babies are born, the Home Birth Association says. An increasing trend towards home births and early discharge from maternity hospitals had revealed a need for trained home help, said a spokeswoman for the Christchurch association, Mrs Kathryn Johnston, yesterday. Such a maternity homehelp service should be Government-funded and available for the first 10 days after birth, she said. The association’s national conference in New Plymouth last weekend had called on Government to fund the service. The association envisaged such a service would provide about five

hours a day relief for the mother from cleaning, cooking and child care. The service should be available to all mothers, not just to “first-time mothers.” Midwife visits would still be needed to provide professional supervision and to check on any problems, Mrs Johnston said. Post-natal care was available through Nurse Maude and from domiciliary midwives paid by the Health Department, but few household services were available to all mothers who believed they needed help, The home-aid service provided by Nurse Maude was available only to a limited number of women, who either had no other support, had two or more pre-school children, or had had complications at delivery.