WHOOPING COUGH.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 115, 5 September 1941, Page 4

WHOOPING COUGH.

Sir,-As I read the article on 4 Whooping Cough Ki in The Listener I thought I had often heard lectures on the subject from experienced mothers and old -grannies. (God bless them.) Most mothers are aware of the immediate danger of serious chest complaints developing, but it takes a learned doctor to ignore the more insidious nervous and psychological effects. Yet time and time again I have heard whooping cough blamed for the presence of flat-feet, fear of the dark, and other nervous complaints that the mothers declared were not present before the children had whooping cough. In one small district this disease was a byword owing to a complacent mother who when faced with any physical or moral unpleasantness in her daughter, would fold her hands and with a deprecating smile-reply, "It’s the whooping cough what done it!" But she and her daughter did not live in vain, for not a woman brought up in that district made light of whooping cough in their offspring. I think Dr. Turbott could have stressed the danger of a long walk to and from school too soon after this sickness, and the danger to toddlers of being too much on their feet too soon. He made no mention of nervousness in various forms developing. As a mere woman I suggest that a fortnight’s holiday with "an -unworried and work-free mother would work wonders in restoring the child’s health and mental confidence, but while the cost of every reform and every disaster hits parents first, that is an im-

possible dream. —

MOTHER

(Green Island).