OUR BABIES.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLI, Issue 80, 30 April 1915, Page 2

OUR BABIES.

By Hygeia,

Published under, the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children.

"It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom."

THE WAR AND THE BABIES

. It may be safely prophesied that the war and "after-the-war" are going to bring about an extraordinary accession of interest in infant welfare, not only in France, but also in England. Indeed, there .is no need to prophesy—there are already dear indications that the care of the baby is comamnding more consideration at Home. The latest number of the 'British Medical Journal' gives prominence to this matter in an editorial, in which it is stated that the work of the National League for Physical Education and Improvement has undergone "a phenomenal growth and development, largely attributable to the war. The outstano> ing_ feature of the year was the recognition by the Government of the valuable work done at the infant Welfare and maternity centres." There has been a great increase in the number of infant welfare societies, largely owing to the encouragement afforded by the Government in the form of grants in aid of the work. "During ,the year 42 additional societies had been admitted to membership .... the mothercraft competitions had .inc)<eased, and the: judges found marked improvement on the par* of the individual competitors in their knowledge of mothercraft. The St. Pancras School for Mothers carried off the silver challenge shield. . . . Rt. Hon. A. H. D. Ackland drew public attention, at the outbreak of the war, to the necessity of saving infant lives, and succeeded in organising a propaganda fund to enable the association to provide capable organisers of new infant welfare and maternity centres."

FRANCE AND MOHERHOOD. When in France. some 18 months ago we were much struck by the efforts which were being made to ensure what might be called primary education in motherhood—practical and theoretical. For many years w noted French doctor, Professor Pinard, has 'been sparing no pains to bring this about. In the' preface to his little book on the care of infants, for use in girls' schools, he says: "During the year 1902-3 I was able to realise the dream which I had cherished for a long time. "Thanks to the support of Madame Girard, directress of the school, and of Monsieur Albert Durand, of the Paris Academy, the doors of a primary school for girls were opened! to me. "I gave instruction in a series of lessons to young grls from 10 to 14 years of age, telling them what it was necessary for them to do to safeguard and develop infants in the best possible way. "In all my experience, of 30 years of teaching I have never had a more attentive audience than these young girls."

Among those who attended these' first lessons of Professor Pinard were ia> number of the leading educational authorites of Paris, including Monsieur Gasquet, the Director of Primary Educaton in France, and it is significant that they were unanimous in the opinion that this form of education ought to be given in all primary schools. The frank recognition and encouragement accorded to Dr. Pinard' catted him to writd his little lesson-book, in which he set himself, as he says, to teaoh girls "matters of which they ought not to bo allowed to remain ignorant." The opening lines of the book are as follow: TO THE READERS OF THIS BOOK.

We will suppose, my dear children, that we have been given the following problem to solve: THE PROBLEM.

A hundred babies scarcely bigger than your dolls, but alive and'healthy, are confided to out 1 care. Among these hundred babies there are some whose parents are rich, there are some whose parents are not well-to-do, and there are some whose parents are poor. We are given charge of these ohildren from their: birth until the time when they will each have '2O teeth. We will suppose that it is our mission, during this time — (1) To safeguard them—that is to say, to prevent them from dying. (2) To do the utmost possible to ensure their best development—in other words, to ensure that they shall grow well and become as strong as sibleSuch is the problem l . What nrast we do to bring about this great result? POUPONNIERES (BABY HOMES). Before quoting further from Dr. Pinard's book I must explain that a.ny such lessons given in French schools are 'ntended to be merely preliminary and preparatory to a course where l ha schoolgirl will spend at least 10 days in. a properly-equipped Baby Home. Here she will have to take in hand the actual care of babies, and learn to carry out in practice everything essential foi' tl>© wellbeing of a normal healthy infant. At the same time she will naturally pain some knowledge as to minor ailments, and what to do where a baby is threatened with illness or is actually suffering from malnutrition, constipation, diarrhoea, etc. But it must be clearly understood that the French "Pouponniere"' (Baby Home) is not a hospital, or even ix convalescent home. It is not prima ri. ly concerned in dealing, with sickness--it is a place for the rearing of hea'ihy babies.

The Pouponniere is defined as "arr establishment in which a child is reared under medical direction throughout the whole course of its first infancy—in other words, from birth until the cutting of its 20tb tooth." These institutions are established in the neighborhood of large towns and cities, and are intended to serve for the practical study and application of the best methods of baby-rearing, both natural and artificial. The girls are taught from the theoretical and practical standpoints with lai view to the spreading of such knowledge throughout the whole* community. Behind the is a great national aim—the racial re- I generation of France. j Later I shall give an account of a*» visit wepaid to the leading Pouponniere I at Porchefemtaine, near Versailles. Next* | week I shall make a few extracts fronu Professor Pioard's. little sohoolbook, ; merely to show what kind of knowledge ' ho considers that "a girl should mot qq allowed to grow up in ignorance, of."