CARE OF THE BABIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19859, 1 February 1928, Page 8

CARE OF THE BABIES.

j APPRECIATION OF CLINICS, 1 SOME PREJUDICED MOTHERS. Tho attendance at the Baby Health Centres in Sydney during 1927 numbered about 260,000, an increase of about 50,000, or nearly 25 per cent, over the previous year. Tho Acting-Director-General of Public Health, Dr. E. Sydney Morris, said recently that such figures constituted a gratifying testimony to the value with which maternal and in/ant welfare work was now regarded, and piwed conclusively that the centres were gradually reaching the great majority of mothers. But there still remained that difh«<u problem, the refractory mother, said i-*r. Morris. She would not take advantage oit the help obtainable at the centres herself, and, as far as she could prevent iby prejudicing those around her, would not allow others to do so. That smail section, embracing perhaps 15 per cent. 20 per cent, of the population, constitutes the department's greatest problem, as i was they who contributed at least to pe cent, of -,he infantile mortality. A P a , r from reaching those mothers, notning department could do could affect the i fant death rate to any great extent. >t " I am optimistic enough to behove, added Dr. Morns, "that the widespread support accorded our efforts in the p press, will ultimately break down niue this prejudice. Undoubtedly, the rema able increase last year in the , mothers attending the centres was due to the publicity given to th« aimsa u objects of the centres, and 1 «m h °P e * that the continuance and extension ot t ■ work will eventually bring about an almosx universal recognition of the necessi y mothercraffc teaching.