[Report 1928] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council.

  • Cumberland (England). County Council.
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1928] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    outdoor exercise and to live in rooms which had abund- ance of fresh air, and that she was given occupation for mind and hands; that she had, in fact, those conditions which work for child welfare aims to secure for all children to-day. These things will have abolished the dangers to child-bearing that arise from faulty nutrition and bad habits. They will have ensured the full and healthy development of bone and muscle, of ( lies! and lungs. The woman will naturally breathe deeply; she will therefore use large supplies of oxygen for herself and the child; she will be accustomed to excrete fully all the poisons of her own body by active lungs, skin, bowels and kidneys; she will, therefore, be less likely to accumulate any poisonous products from herself or the child. By (lie healthy use of brain and muscle she is fortified in advance to meet the call upon nervous and muscular energy made by pregnancy and parturition, and thereby what is regarded by some as nine months of endurance may become a time of heightened vitality unknown at other periods of life- To discuss the problem of heredity as it stretches far back into the ages would be impossible here and must be left to the discussion on eugenics, but we are doing work to-day for infancy which will affect maternity of the future. Hopeful though that may be : for the coming generation it reminds us that dealing with the present generation of mothers we are unable to touch one important factor in the well-being of themselves and their children, viz., the heredity and curly environment of the mother. (2) The problem of her present environment thrusts upon us some of the most burning social questions of the I day, viz., housing, water supply, nutrition, &c. The Royal Commission on Housing, 1885, pointed out three evils of had housing which have a very direct bearing on the health of the mother and her unborn child. They found that:—(a) Boor Housing diminished personal cleanliness and physique; (b) the sickness rates were high in such dwellings; (<■) the death-rates were higher than in more favoured localities Nutrition of the mother implies food in suitable quantity and quality, that is, a due proportion of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, salts, and last but not least, vitamins. A plain nourishing mixed diet with a plentiful supply of