The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-05-01
BY ELIzABETH INcRAHAsf,


 'FE M. ID,
 Director Bureau of Child Hygiene Connecticut State Department of
 Health.
 The annual stock taking Of the York being done for Connecticuts &hiidrcn by the state department of 8onith through It's bureau Of child &ygienc. is again In order.
 No building can be erected for 8ermanency unless 1t have Q secure Foundation. No more can we expect @ have rugged health in adult life unless we lay e firm foundation for khe life of the young child.
 Of all the babies born in Connec- Sicut each year about 6 per cent nie during the first year of life. The Connecticut state department of heelth is trying to lower this death &ducation of the expectant mothers.
 This is the age for preventive measures. When wisely taught, pre- 9entive medicine concerned with Rhe care of the expectant mother and the growth and development @e the unborn child appreciably lowers the infant mortality rate. ,yhis educational movement is car- Tied on through tho distribution of n series of prenatal letters, pam- ehiots, and the teaching of child &ygienc nurses. Nearly 12,000 of
 hese letters were sent out during
 he past year. They are sent at tho Request of local physicians, obstet. knothcrs themselves. With the first be each set of letters is always smaiied a copy of "Prenatal Care" end leaflets bearing tho message 8f the importance of immunIzation against diphtheria. In these letters every cxpectant mother is urged to but herself at tho earliest date un- Der the care of her physician. Birth Certificates
 The need of supplying parents A3lth accurate certificates of their Whlldrens births becomes more ap- parent each year. It is of great im- portanco to parents and to each community that an accurate nc- count of each birth be kept. That parcnts are realizing this is shown by their request for tho birth cer- eiAcate iG they do not receive one Promptly. Birth certificates are eften needed to prove tho correct @ge of child on entering school.
 With the exception of fourteen %ities and towns that issue their 8wn, the birth certificates of the state arc sent out by the state de- partment of health. Nearly 11,000 were mailed during the last cur- rent year. With each certificate the mother receives leaflets on diphthe- 11a which call her attention to the Importance of having tho child im- 1nunizcd early in life. At tho same time she receives Q booklet on the care of the infant and chart showing what its normal develop ment should be during the first gear. The increasing calls for the kion with the work of the summer fbund-up and we'll child confer. Nnces indicates that this branch of Education work is bearing abun- dant fruit.
 Well Child Conferences As ever the bulk of child health Work Hes in the well child confer- ences. Every effort is made to place the conduct of each conference on the community in which 1t is held, When there arc no resident doctors Or nursese these must necessarily Dc supplied by the state; but 1t Is Interesting to note that thirty-flve of the eighty conferences are at- tendcd by local physicians. and for- ky of the eighty by local nurses.
 Tn the conferences themselves 1t San be readily felt that the educa- tionaI nature of the work is being made use of by the mothers. They are showing an increasing tendency ko take their children to their own doctors for advice.
 The benefits of these well child Conferences, to every community in which they are held, are multiple. Mothers, through acquiring the Conference attendance habit. gen. orally sec the advantage of having c place to which they can tako their growing children for perIod- teal inspection and advice. The doc- tor in attendance is always ready to discuss with them the various problems of child life. Children on