INFANT LIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1917, Page 6

INFANT LIFE.

To the Editor. Sir, —Your Pukengahu correspondent has written a letter which will lm appreciated in a vast number of homes. His remark regarding infants unborn applies to some districts, spreading (as would a disease) from certain pernicious persons. Humble surroundings or mild poverty do not create that trouble, but chiefly a keen desire in some to follow the lead of fashion driven people. Plunket appliances and reading matter are perfection of the times. The nurses intend to work with the doctors. Could they bring before the doctors the necessity of careful supervision of the baby while the mother is under their control? I have not come in contact with cases of attempted destruction of infants previous to birth, but 1 do know of five being interfered with after birth (an extra stay with so-called nurse causing more profit). One case of death was averted only after most, extreme exertion. The infant was lying unconscious through a sleeping mixture being given (by nurse), so said the doctor whose case it was. A similar case had just occurred. Another mother travelled liO odd miles to a doctor who would speak plainly, who told her that the baby, then eleven days old, had been grossly mismanaged, making the third so treated by that midwife. A doctor of the district told one mother she was all that could be desired. This is a matter the Government might take up with profit. They should make proper inspection of all places of nursing should they desire less infantile mortality. Then there is the crime contained in such acts, and the mothers' anxiety to be considered.—l am, etc., WORKER.