The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-09-08

| the nurse to the home. Expectant
mothers are instructed according to ex-
listing conditions. The Improperly
nourished are especially advised as to
diet, while the sick are placed under
medical care.
| The health of the mother is the first
consideration and all possible means
are employed to improve her general
physical condition.; she receives in
struction as to her habits, daily routine,
exercise, diet, condition of bowels,
proper clothing to wear, etc
| Just how essential this instruction
and how necessary Is proper care at
the birth of the child may be demon
strated by one citation: "One half of
all the blindness in the world is due
to improper care of the baby's eyes
Immediately after BIRTH"
Healthy parents. healthy children. Is a
sequence that is almost automatic, the
exceptions bringing us to other fields of
research, experiment and endeavor, too
vast for the confines of the present sub
jects.
The healthy mother is usually the nurs-
ing mother, inasmuch as a large percen-
tage OF infant mortality is due to results
of improper feeding, even where the baby
is healthy to begin with. the Importance
of the mother nursing her baby cannot
be too greatly emphasized. In milk sta
ton analyses, fully 40 per cent Of the
rea sons for depriving the baby OF its right
to nurse Is because of lack Of milk, Ill
health and abnormalities Of the breast.
Those three are the chief contributive
causes toward lessening the baby's
chances of living through its first year.
In other instances. the baby has been
weaned because the mother is unwilling
to nurse 1t, and this is by no means con-
fined to q class where ignorance could be
an excuse. If any excuse there is; the
mother working, able to nurse her baby
only at night; mothers milk does not
agree, mother pregnant and mother dead.
In some, the obstacles to nursing are In
superable. in others flimsy. To tear down
these fiimsy structures and to afford a
substitute where the natural care cannot
! be given, are the chief aims of milk sta
| ton agencies.
| Still another field to which milk station
agents are directing their attention, Is
tho pernicious midwife practice. She,
with rare exceptions. Is to be condemned
as incompetent and dangerous to both
mother and baby by her slovenly and ig-
norant ways In some cities she has a
| permit to practice and must comply with
| certain regulations: there supervision
ends The milk station offers medium
for exerting adequate control over the
midwife Her license or permit should be
| isSucQ uiliy dllcT VI tHr
milk station authorities, based largely
| upon her ability to demonstrate to the
station nurse and physicians that not
| only is she qualified to perform her own
peculiar functions but 10 capable of filling
out adequate reports Of births. The hope
lessly incompetent birth statistics in the
majority OF our cities beng largely due
tic this lack of examination in proficiency
and non-supervision Of the midwife after
| the hermit ia granted.
| Poverty Of the mother before the birth
| OF tec child: iucompctcncy OF attending
rrvTfc'a~s ard u1idwives; inadequate and
improper care and feeding after birth are
the causes of fully 60 per cent of the
Htfs mat occur annually
~r' he civilized world among
babies under one year of age. In this
appalling record. European Russia leads
the world; the German empire second.
= q tue United States third. with 2SS,O0o.
OF this last. taking 90 per cent ms the an
nual sacrifice. we have 17e.Soo babies
slaughtered every year before the altar