OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 197, 15 May 1920, Page 5

OUR BABIES

IF/Hxgha.l Published under the amploea of the Eoyal Now Zealand Society lor tho Health ot Women and Ohildreri. "It 1b wlior to pnt up a feaoo at the top o! a prcolploo than to maintain an ambulanco at tile bottom." SmOOATKKi 07 BABIES. La 8t week wo gave an acconnt of an inOuesl which was hotiTln Dunedin on March 27, 1M), on tho death of an infant. Tho verdiot was, "Doath was nccidontally duo to nephyiin.," and the Ooronor warned parents agalnat takins infanta to bed witJJ them. One can. scarcely bring oneself to wrn.o in any measured terms na to the wrong still done to babies in hundreds of homes throughout the Dominion by keeping them In bed with tneir parent's. I boliovo tliat practically every woman has heard of tiio risk of safiocation through 'over-lying. Indeed, popular fear of this calamity and tho opprobium of a public inquiry certainly saves many a baby from being suojcrtcd to tile enemtine and debilitating influences inseparable from sleoping in . Bed beside an adult. How la ono to bring homo to every woman m the land mo fact that in the aaprrasiite the done to the numerous babies. who the ordeal of snending o third.of thar time poisoned ana sweltering in the iv arm, damp, study animal vapours of tho parental lair is' much greater than the wrong of sudden estlncUon-lnc squashing to death of the comparatively few vict.ms whom we read about nc The babies who are killed outright cicape ■the greater penalty of beins-bronsht up as debilitated weaklings by nar«nts whoso perverse and senseless conduct proves them unfit to be trusted with the rearing ° yet—aro JNKse fooliah find tenorant inotllers ■ ai? mnch to blame as we arp-as society w, for allowing women To reach mnrnng<>ftWh age without haying been given any toMWjj as to the simple laws and needs of life and motherhood? Again, arc women to bear all the Warar'. •I have myself arßiied Ml. reasoned with both Husband ami wifo °" 1S "I noTnt and faT*"rt on one occasion to get through ITio solid wall of •comnlwcnt l i>r*. indlco end self-sufficiency whieli tepta baby—a suckled tebv JrfV been tho picture of mother all night, though visibly fnihn. and Tialing month after month for want of nothing but a seoarate cot and pure air. The Husband in t'Ms case said that lie hart Keen savaEfPF <3o litofwiss- and he bfliflvw in women following the dictates of Nature and instinct, Nothing would conv nee him to the contrary nnly irreparable barm had been done. There is, of course, no • more specions or fallacious argument that . the so-called "stickincr to Nature.' when the whole circumstances and environment ■have ceased to be' such as ato moi with in'a state of nature. What would the practical Rrmer say if you argued with him that it was unnecessary to take special precautions in the structure of tho breeding pens for his sows to prevent, over- " lying—that such precautions were unnecessary because nothing of the kind was needed by our wild pigs roaming free in forest, scrub, or fern? . AROOSING THE PUBLIC CONSCIENCE. I am sure that many of my readers will conc.ir as heartily us I do with the forojhlo and outspoken utterance of the late Mr. 0. C. Graham, when as Coroner in Dunedin ho held two, inquests on cases of doath by over-lying. The following oxtracts are taken from the newspaper reports:— INQUEST ON DEATH OP AN INFANT. (Reported July 1, 1911.) The father said that the deceased was 45 months of age. Tho child—a little girl —was being nursed by her mother. On Wednesday night she was put to bed in her usual state of health, which had been •good 3ince birth. .She lay with her mother in the same bed as witness. He heard no crying or any disturbance during the night. He awoke.in the morning between half-past S and a quarter to 7. As he was getting up, the child's mother started to scream, saying, tho child was dead. Tho child had been lying in its mother's arms on the outside of the bed. He took the child in his arms, and found it was still warm, but showed no sign of life.", The infant was an only child, and owing to the mother being in an overwhelmed and distracted state, the Coroner humai\ly desisted from speaking his mind until she had retired but ho did not spare tho father. He solemnly emphasised the gravity of the odence, and concluded by saying that lie trusted that the tragedy would serve the parents as a lesson for life, especially in view of the fact that, being young people, they might incur_ further i responsibilities in the same direction. Mr. Graham continued :— "CororiefsJ and doctors have. for years been preaching on tho folly and wickedness of mothers taking their infants to ! bed with them. At Home the infant mortality from this cause is something appalling. Ono coroner there has even gono the length of saying that tho practice is so common' that it will not bo stopped until legislation declares it to be manslaughter that the death of a child should be brought about by the mother overlying it." , It is interesting to note that in tne above ease the doctor, who armed half an hour after the baby was found dead, said "the, body was cold, as if it had been dead for some hours." Yet I have known a woman say. "Oil! I couldn't be so cruel as to allow my baby away from me at night, especially in this cold weather—it illicit want something." A babv in a cot will let its parents know what it wants from a bedroom on'.the opnosit" side of a passage by crying out lustily if in pain or discomfort, and one docs not hear of such an infant lying cold, dead, and neglected while .its parents sleep on in peaceful and uninterrupted contentment. SECOND INQUEST OW A BUPFOCATED BABY. (Jnly 24, 1911.) A little more than three weeks later, in spite of the reports on the previous case, which had been published in tho Dnnedin newspapers, another inquest was held on j a similar case in the same city. The report is as follows. I pive it .iuat as it appeared in tho "Otago Daily Times":— DEATH OF AN INFANT, WARNING TO PARENTS./ "Mr. C. C. Graham (Coroner) held an Inquest yesterday morning to inquire into the circumstance surrounding the death of an infant ten weeHs old who was found dead in bed at an early hour on Saturday morning. "The mother stated that the child was taken beside her into bed at 10 p.m. and fed. When she awoke at 6 o'clock next morning the infant was lyinc clear of her, and dead. "Dr. Howard, who was callcd in, utatcu that he found the lungs congested or engorged, .a similar state existing on the right side of the heart and in the abdominal veins. The engorging had extended to the brain, bringing on convulsions. In answer to a question by Station-Sergeant ' Kino- whether there was any anpearance of tho child being over-lain, tho doctor said that the symptoms pointed that way. i "The Coroner returned a verdict that the child died in a fit of convulsions caused ' by being overlain in the night, and commented very strongly on the danger of ■ parents taking their infants into bed with them. He mentioned that at Home there was talk of making this a criminal oDence, because it led to so many deaths."