OUR BABIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 514, 2 November 1912, Page 3

OUR BABIES.

(By Hygeia). Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. " It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." REAL AIMS AND OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE HEALTH OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

In one's travels throughout the Dominion one is daily confronted with sivdences of the limited ideas which still prevail in many quarters as to the broad scope and objects of the health mission which the society has been carrying on foe over five years. It ia true that very few people now even pretend to tihuklwhat we are primarily interested in the artificial feeding of babies—they understand our first objective ia to ensure the health and fitness of the mother long before child birth, so that the baby may ba born strong and healthy, and tnat it may be nurtured for the full term in the natural way. Further, most people realise that humanised milk merely means the milk of some mamal so modified as to make it approximate as nearly as possible to the milk designed by the Creator for the young human being— the substitute being frankly rceognisad as necessarily inferior "to healthy human milk, and therefore only to be recommended where natural suckling is unobtainable. But this was not always so: only a few years have passed sincce the society wag frpquently charged by prejudiced persons with encouraging women to feed their babies artificially. Having got past these firßt crude misconceptions we find ourselves still faced with a hazy idea lingering here and there that in some mysterious way the society may be doing away with the self-reliance of the mothers and, metaphorically speaking, "spoon - feeding" them, through the agency of the Plunket Nurses. Nothing can be further from the truth. The primary rules of the society, the first injunctions given to its nurses, show the very reverse to be the case. INSTRUCTIONS TO PLUNKET NURSES. The main function of the society's nurses is to educate and help parents and others in a practical way in the hygiene of tha home and nursery with a view to conserving the health of the whole family, while directing special attention to the needs of mother and off-spring. The society is extremely anxious to bring about a realisation of the sufficingness in general of obedience to the simple, known laws of life and nature to maintain the health of mother and child, and the inevitable Nemesis which follows sooner or later on any evasion'of duty in this respect. Above all, it desires to avoid the resorting to anything savouring of mystery, or suggestive of special knowledge or powers outside the range or understanding of ordinary men and women. The aim should always be to stimulate and quicken the interest and self-reliance of parents in matters pertaining to the home, so that it may be regulated in a sensible and responsible way consistent with what is known at the present time as to the fundamental requirements of life. The societys' work is essentially a health mission. In regard to domestic hygiene, its trained nurses should take the place of untrained, unskilled neighbours or relations in as tactful a way as possible. They should endeavour to establish in the home an understanding and adoption of the simple principles illustrated in practice at the Karitane Hospital, and inculcated in the society's books, pamphlets, "Our Bioies" column, etc. A PATRIOTIC ORGANISATION. The society is a mutual co-opera-tive patriotic organisation for education in the essentials of motherhood and race culture, free to all. without a trace of patronage or charity. Not only does the soccietv incuclate self-reliance and self-help, but it is earnestly invites the women of all classes to avail themselves of its simple, practical teaching and services, not only in the interests of the health and fitness of themselves and their families, but for the sake of the whole rising generation and the future of our race. There is no greater mistake than to suppose that the society exists for the less paable and less competent stocks of the community or for the sake of the submerged. We want to bring about a higher standard of health and fitness in all classes. This is clearly shown in the following extact from remarks made by Or Truby King, the general president of the society, when qquestioned on this point rceently by a reporter In Invrecargill. "Is it a faci," he was asked, "that the movement is intended specifically to reach the classes whose position makes it unlikely that they are in potsession of the requisite knowledge in the protection of infant life? "No," said Dr King. "The question really conveys a not uncommon misconception as to the essential aim of the society. What We have to recognise first and foremost is, as a leading American physician said, that there is as much need for education and training in matters pertaining to the health oft he community and the rising genertion in a particular among the educated and well-to-do as among the poor and ignorant. The Society for the Health of Women and Children was established in the beginning, and has been maintained throughout as a mutual aid organisation, the members of which have frankly realised they have practically as much

to learn themselves as they had to convey to others. They have left no stone unturned in their efforts to perfect their knowledge from all sources and to spread this throughout the community by every practicable means, availing themselves of speci-ally-trained nurses, books, pamphlets, etc.; and above all the generous aid which has been accorded to them from start to finish by the press. However, it is not generally realised to how great an extent the spread and advance of this movement has been due to the direct and indirect personal influnece of the teaching of members o'f the strong local committees which have carried on the work of the society. Essentially the mission is conducted on broad eductiaonal lines—an educational health mission to all classes alike. It is sometimes asked why no chcarge is made for the services of the Plunket Nurses, but the fact is that we look at the whole scheme from an eduational point of view. All the society teaches it desires the whole community to avail itself of as widely as possible—because the knowledge it gives is of a necessary character ir.deed, to a large extent it is of a chaacter which should eb conveyed to girls on the verge of womanhood, and it may come to be conveye to aconsiderable extent in then to distant future in thelatter stages of school life. Perhaps this is hoping for rather too much, but in any case it would be unwise to attempt to make acharge for the acquisition of knowledge which the recipients have for the most part scarcely recognised that they needed at first, but which we know i 3 of the utmost importance to mother and chidll and to the community. Indeed, the movement must be considered a patriotic one, since any improvement in the health . and vitality of the rising generation will be a matter of prime importance to theisafety and defence oft he country, quite apar from itts importance to the communty in al lotherr especta."