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CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
The changing picture of the health of mothers and young
children in the country in the last twenty years has brought changes
in the maternity and child welfare services.
The early problems of infectious disease, especially gastroenteritis,
and malnutrition in infancy and the more serious disorders
of pregnancy are no longer met.
A generation of mothers has grown up, healthy in themselves,
willing and ready to take all the known aids to a healthy pregnancy
and with a vastly increased knowledge of the problems of child
care. So that in the clinics of today we are seeing healthier
mothers-to-be and the emphasis is on the teaching of the facts
about normal pregnancy and confinement rather than on the need
to cure abnormal conditions.
In the Infant Welfare Clinic the marked improvement seen in
the physical health of babies and toddlers can but give us the
opportunity and incentive to turn our attention increasingly to
the problems of the child's social adjustment and development.
These problems which in the past were overshadowed by the more
urgent necessity of keeping the children physically healthy, are
none the less important to ensure a happy, stable, and unharrassed
background of family life in which the children may grow and
learn.
Thus it is that Infant Welfare Clinics are now fulfilling a new
but very important function of providing a consultative service
for mothers faced with problems of child behaviour and development.
In an attempt to bridge the gap between the two-year-old
attending the Infant Welfare Clinic and the five-year-old's first
school examination, Toddler Clinics were started in three clinics in
the area during the year. These have met with only partial success,
but it is felt that they can be of value if the mothers are educated
to continue their attendance until the children reach school age.
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