OUR BABIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 11 April 1928, Page 8

OUR BABIES

MOTHERCRAFT By Hygeia. Published under the auspices o: the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Flunket Society). It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom By ".Mothercraft" we mean the simple- science and the art of correct mothering. Does anyone murmur "maternal instinct” —does anyone still pooh-pooh the idea of applying science to motherhood, saying the birds need no science. m>r the eat. a mammal like oui'seh esTi> such objectors we would say. in the words of Dr Sa looby: Because the human mother "is human her forte t- not instinct, but intelligence. The insect, avian. and feline mother has instinct in various forms and degrees. The eat never gives hei kitten 'the same a~ we have nliiselv c-.' Inti her own breast. Within the limits set by a eet tain range of environment tn which they are e\obit hum lly adapt ed. -uli-hnman mothers 'kimw' all they need to know which i- well, fur they can -eareely learn. To learn is in be intelligent. The human mother is that: but intelligence, whilst it can learn everything, has everything to learn. That is why the stih-lmman mother — and father, of course —relying upon fixed, well-adapted. ready-made instinct. seems superior to ourselves, who make the most deplorable mistakes from the moment we begin to try to wash the baby—until, tis often happens. it i-lrises its eyes in the death which our so-called medicines have hastened ' .Modern human mothering is an art. not tin instinct—else why so many bottle-fed babies when the "good tout gives tin l milk with every mother"why s,, many delicate babies, dead bailies’: The most tragic feature in the great majority of infant tragedies is the fact that so many might have been prevented—so many are due to ignorance of the simple principles .of true "mot lmrera ft."

THE MOTHERCRAFT IDEAL All over the world people are waking up to these facts, and are striving to achieve the motliercraft ideal, which trims at having every baby naturally fed and 100 per cent, healthy, happy and good: every toddler and school child sturdy mid robust: every boy and gill aware of the simple essentials for good parenthood—and so bark to the beginning of the cycle again, with the mother healthy and happy before and after the birth of Iter baby, equipped to rear A 1 citizens and to deal serenely and successfully with dangers and difficulties’ which may conic—to be. in short, "the competent executive in her own home." Here in New' Zealand mothers havemany facilities to enable them to learn mothercraft "as a science and apply it as an art." At the ante-natal clinics connected with various maternity lutmes and at the Plunkof rooms m the main centres, its well as from any Plunket nurse and many others, the prospective mother may learn the beginnings of this most fascinating study. And we would urge every mother-to-be tn learn as much as site can beforehand. to prepare herself not only for the actual birth of her baby, but for the best possible "mothering" afterwards. Knowledge is power, and forewarned is forearmed. Knowledge up plied in time could prevent the great majority of early weanings. and. as one I'Tt'ikTi doctor lias said, premature separation of mother and child is the greatest cause of infcinl death, and premature weaning is juM as surely premature separation as is premature birth. For the unfortunate baby necessarily deprived of his natural food good mothering in other particulars is even more essential than for the breast-fed baity to make up for the priceless boon he has lost.

We would'not convey the impression that the art of good-mothering is difficult to acquire, not that it entails hardship for mother or child. On the contrary. it is incalculably easier than the

"old” wav with its frequent feeding, its broken nights, and its makings to sleep. Hood' mothering means natural feeding for the baby, regular hours and' unbroken nights. and fresh air and sunshine, and exercise, for all. Good mothering bestows its blessings on mother and childI—and 1 —and on father, too. To return to the facilities in our midst for the learning of mot here raft, there are Il f- Piunket homes in New Zealand', all ready to Lein any and every mother with difficulties over feeding or management and to keep a' watchful eye. on the progress of the normal child— : a sort of '‘"consultant in motheremft." Lastly, but not least, there are six motliorcraft homes, situated in Wanganui and Invercargill respectively. Here nursing mothers can go into residence with their babies.