MOTHERS & CHILDREN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 24 January 1914, Page 12

MOTHERS & CHILDREN.

(By Hygeia.)

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

DR KING'S LECtUBE.

(Continued.)

Shortly before I left New Zealand 1 was asked to write a Government pamphlet m harmony with the Society s recommendations, for issue by the Public Health Department to all mothers-within a few days after childbirth. Thirty thousand copies of this, m the form of an illustrated brochure £• ?£ £ ages ' entitled "Baby's .tfirst Month," costing some hundreds ot pounds, were struck off as a first issue. It may be assumed that this will represent the annual output, as our births number some 25,000 a year, and expectant mothers will be encouraged! to obtain and study the pamphlet' rather than await its receipt in ordinary course through the! post after-, notification of birth. Presently we purpose issuing a third pamphlet—logically the first of the series—especially addressed to expectant mothers. The second period I (from birth to the end of the first month) will be covered by ' "Baby's' , First Month," while the whole period ' of motherhood and infancy is dealt 1 with broadly and in detail in ."Feeding; and Care of Baby." Series of Consistent Publications. For the sake of continuity, and to prevent unnecessary repetition, these "three publications will contain cross references from one to the other. Further, we 'are' constantly referring parents to our fixed publications in , dealing with questions answered in the weekly "Our Babies" . newspaper column, which is read almost universally by mothers throughout the Dommioh: i - » \ I that a consistent series of authoritative pamphlets and newspaper articles on the above lines is/ much more effective arid helpful tfhan any single book covering the,whole ground coujld be. The young married woman \or expectant- mother wants to know what she ought to be doing to-day, to- ' morrow, or next week; not what Bhe may possibly,have "to be thinking about six months or a year or so hence. Thus, for the husband, and the lyingin mother, there are a series of practical, economic, and other oonsidera-1 tions of vital importance," which apply * almost solely to the month following childbirth, and these should, be clearly set forth, unhampered by matters wliioh liave no relevancy whatever to this momentous epoch. * . * We can best attain to clear thinking and sensible conduct and habits on the part of parents by concentrating attention on the-more urgent necessities of the moment, and of the time immediately ahead. This we effect, partly through -the agency of speciallytrained nurses and members of the Society, and,partly by means of printed matter, lectures, etc.' ' Having once gained the interest of the mother, and won her confidence by manifest benefits accruing to' herself and her child through obedience to the laws and needs of life—having attained so much, experience has shown us tKat parents (particularly men) will read and follow with absorbing interest whatever one chooses to set before them. Indeed, interest in national bodily fitness and public health can be attained only through -natural unselfish love of children and devotion to their welfare. We find that the average man or women appealed to, reasoned with, and trained in the right way will do, anything for the health and well-being -of offspring, though they may be almost absolutely indifferent as to their own physical fitness, until they have' been brought to see personal health in ihe light of a duty and trust—to see it as something '.which, .always, directly or indirectly, benefits others, and to see ill-health and disease, not only as curse .*nd blight £b the family,-but as eometnjng; uwdfortby, and utterly unpatriotic in its* 'tendencies.' As Stevens of Ladysmith said, the very children "ought to be taught that' sickness is a badge of inferiority; that to be healthy is the , prime condition of all things desirable in life. Such an education might be trusted to breed healthy bodies controlled by healthy minds." In other words, rear and train our children properly, and our grown men and women may be trusted to look after themselves.

the karitane-harris hospital.

Within a> few months of the foundation of the Society, a hospital devoted to babies-j-the first in Australasia — was established.*

Starting with a few local babies, this institution now receives infants from all parts of the Dominion. When I left New Zealand there were 24 inmates under care —viz., 21 babies and three mothers.

In one sense, the healing of sick babies in the least important aspect of our hospital work. The institution is a school for mothers, an ever-open object-lesson, by means of which some thousands of visitors of all classes see and are taught personally -every year the essentials for healthy 'motherhood and babyhood, while mothers who have any trouble with their babies are encouraged io become inmates for a week1 or 10 days,, so that 'they may be set on the right track. , - Most women, on returning to their homes, become centres of light and leading: for their friends and neighbors; thus, health reform spreads from home to home and from' district to district. '

Nqt only fe' the hospital held. availSbble'"'•; for;'Athe'.; teaching •;of actual .'mothers'; "'but we i encourage potential I mothers-—girls in. iheir ''teensand expectant '■' mothers--^to; attend ■ weekly lessons and ; demoi&trationey or to enter the institution for a short course of trainings Further, a guild of, 60 girls was organised . some years ago, each to spend anf afternoon once a month handling atid looking after the babies in the grounds, thus helping to provide the "mothering" element, apt 'to be lacking/in- institutions, and at the same1 tim& implanting and developing motherly" tendencies and aptitudes in ;the girls themselves. Last, but not. least, the KaritaneHarris Hospital is used by the university as the institution for the practical j and clinical teaching of pediatrics to j our medical students, and by Miss Boyes Smith, the Professor of Domestic Science, for teaching her students this aspect of their , rwork. (To be continued.)