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CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
Child Welfare Clinics
Attendances at Child Welfare Clinics show an increase during the
year.
The seven centres are held in hired premises. Doctors and Health
Visitors who, sometimes work under difficult conditions, endeavour to
satisfy the public in all the preventive aspects of family health. In this
work they are assisted by willing groups of voluntary helpers without
whom it would be difficult to run the clinics.
One might well ask whether the mothers really value the advise they
receive from the Clinic staff and come back for more, or is it only that
the babies' dried milk and other foods can be obtained there at a more
reasonable price? Perhaps it is the various injections to protect the
infant from whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus, smallpox and
poliomyelitis which attract the mother. On the other hand it may be
the friendly atmosphere at the clinic and the opportunity to meet with
other mothers which helps to maintain the attendances.
The national trend shows a decrease in attendances at Child Welfare
Clinics. The number of mothers consulting the medical officers at the
clinics is falling. What are the functions of the Medical Officer at the
Child Welfare centre? The following views on this point have been
supplied by Dr. G. Eisner, one of the Medical Officers attending Child
Welfare Clinics in the Borough
"The reassurance of a young mother after the great emotional
experience of childbirth, at a Centre where she can talk freely
to experienced personnel about every small matter which, often
trivial, may assume mountainous proportions in her bewildered
inexperience, provides an important stage in preventive mental
health.
The Child Welfare Clinic is the centre where careful watch is
kept particularly during the perinatal period with its feeding
difficulties and early symptoms of disorders not detected at
birth.
The Child Welfare Clinic is the centre where the foundation
stone is laid to a positive approach to health. Regular observation
of physical and mental development leads to early detection
of deviation from the normal: preventive measures,
immunisation, etc.
I should like to stress the importance of careful listening to
mothers' observations. Examples: one mother's observation
that the child (aged 7 months at the time) was not kicking as
vigourously with one leg as with the other, led to the detection
of congenital dislocation of hip (treated successfully). The
remark "is there anything wrong with my baby's eyes?" led
to the diagnosis of congenital absence of irises (an extremely
rare occurence) and contact lenses for a baby aged 9 months
were provided at Moorfields Hospital.
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