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45
Under 15s. 1
Between 15s. &20s. 25
Between 20s. &25s. 16
25s. and over 8
Apart from the fact that the expense of a confinement is a serious
item, it is difficult for the mother to obtain the rest which is necessary
during the puerperium.
It has been objected to institutional confinements that the
mother and child come out of hospital ill-adapted to a normal life,
and that the mother in a home confinement can be taught during
the puerperium the proper care of her baby, and that breast-feeding
is better established under home conditions. This has not been our
experience here. A hospital confined mother is, in our experience,
more educated in the methods of infant feeding, and more especially,
she is less apt to start night feeding. How much trouble does a
mother store up for herself when she starts to give her infant a night
feed, and how difficult it is to break the habit once it is formed.
We find also that a higher percentage of institution trained
mothers endeavour to breast-feed their infants. There is not
so much tendency to abandon breast-feeding on account of some
imaginary cause which is non-existent. She is not so inclined to
wean the baby because she imagines that the milk does not agree
with him, or that the breast-milk is not nutritious.
These advantages can of course be attained easily at home,
provided an intelligent midwife is in attendance. Strange though
it may seem, a large number of women in Acton are still attended
by non-qualified and non-registered women, and though a doctor
is engaged and may be in attendance, these mothers are not made
to realize the importance of regular feeding, the care of their breasts
and other duties of motherhood.
There is little doubt also that rest, both to the body and the
mind, is essential for the first ten days or a fortnight after delivery.
In most cases this is more easily obtainable in a maternity home
than it is in their own homes, and this rest is a great boon to the
mother. One gynaecologist has stated that he was looking forward
to a great decrease in the number of cases of genital prolapse as a
result of the general extension of maternity hospitals. Some mothers
will worry wherever they may be. They take their troubles with
them to the hospital, and wonder what the other children are doing
and if the father has shelved some of his responsibility whilst the
mother is in hospital, but in the majority of cases, the mother in