THE CARE OF INFANT LIFE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3161, 13 August 1917, Page 6

THE CARE OF INFANT LIFE

Sir,—We, the writers of this letter, _are> both keenly interested in the welfare of the mothers and children of Isew Zealand, and because of this interest, for the past five years, we have noted the results of various experiments, ai>jl where possible given a helping Not being wealthy, the help has not haa a great financial value, but both being trained nurses has had, we venture to hope, some practical value. We takegreat interest in the suggestion j hat thfr Plunket Society may be nationalised, and have a strong desire that this .plan may be realised. No open-minded person could or would Irish to decry the useful wort of Dr. Truby Kinp and his committees in stirring up the public conscience with regard to the care of infants in New Zealand, and we heartily congratulate liim on- the honour conferred on him, but we feel that the time* lias arrived to carry , on this work on a, wider basis. Is there not a tendency 1.0 forget that the infant death-rate has decreased <ill over the world, and that some of the factors of that decrease* iu this country arc:—

(1) Fulling birth-rate. (2) Higher standard of general education. • (3) Stricter inspection of fooa. (4.) Stricter inspection of immigrants or potential parents. (5) Better housing and bathing condl(6)'!StrTcter rules as to practise of midwifery. The. desire for a more liberal schema for the welfare of infants has been confirmed by a study of that most interesting and inexpensive book, the "New Zealand Year Book," wherein we find that while the infant mortality • rate (under ttfelve months) has decreased from 6.21 per cent, in 1906 to 5.35 in 1916, on the other hand the death-rate of children from 12 months to 48 months shows a far from satisfactory increase,. the rate being 1.58 in 1906 and 2.41 m 1916, and the rate in 191G •is even greater than that of 1914, when we had a severe epidemic of infantile paralysis It is surely an economic waste—the bete noir or the present day—to save children for twelve months to lose them during the next four years. « Compare these rates with the report ot Dr. Hope on the physical welfare ot mothers and children in England and Wales, quoted in the ' British Medical. Journal" for June 2, 1917, where-it is said the death-rate of children over one year and under five is "rapidly diminishing." Would it not be possible to £0 develop the system of district nursing under a national scheme that greater lWp might be given? District nurse 3 must be general trained and also qualified m'idwives. Is it not reasonable to suppose that they have learned somewhat of infant needs during a general training in an institution of sufficient scone to provide experience of the individual need of children ? For as mothers we feel sure the text-book baby is nonexistent; each infant has his or her individual needs, mentally ami digestivelj. A conference held m London in 1W decided that "until we bad a standardised infant's stomach there.was no use looking for a standardised infant food " We earnestly desire to see-a national society in its wider f help each mother and each child acoo'jl ing to the individual need and not only according to the will of the helpei. We arC TWO; THINKING JfOTHEKS.