DR. F. TRUBY KING'S PAPER 257 



Health Department to all mothers within a few days 

 after childbirth. Thirty thousand copies of this, in 

 the form of an illustrated brochure of some fifty pages, 

 entitled " Baby's First Month," costing some hundreds 

 of pounds, were struck off as a first issue. It may be 

 assumed that this will represent the annual output, as 

 our births number some 25,000 a year, and expectant 

 mothers will be encouraged to obtain and study the 

 pamphlet, rather than await its receipt in ordinary 

 course through the post after notification of birth. 



Presently we purpose issuing a third pamphlet 

 logically the first of the series especially addressed 

 to expectant mothers. The second period (from birth 

 to the end of the first month) will be covered by 

 " Baby's First Month " ; while the whole period of 

 motherhood and infancy is dealt with broadly and in 

 detail in " Feeding and Care of Baby." 



For the sake of continuity, and to prevent un- 

 necessary repetition, these three publications will con- 

 tain cross references from one to the other. Further, 

 we are constantly referring parents to our fixed publi- 

 cations in dealing with questions answered in the 

 weekly " Our Babies " newspaper column, which is 

 read almost universally by mothers throughout the 

 Dominion. 



I submit that a consistent series of authoritative 

 pamphlets and newspaper articles on the above lines 

 is much more effective and helpful than any single 

 book covering the whole ground could be. The 

 young married woman or expectant mother wants to 

 know what she ought to be doing to-day, to-morrow, 

 or next week ; not what she may possibly have to be 

 thinking about six months or a year or so hence. 

 Thus, for the husband and the lying-in mother, there 

 are a series of practical, economic, and other con- 

 siderations, of vital importance, which apply almost 

 solely to the month following childbirth, and these 

 should be clearly set forth, unhampered by matters 



