The rights of infants : early psychological needs and their satisfaction / by Margaret A. Ribble, M.D.

  • Ribble, Margaret A. (Margaret Antoinette), 1890-1971
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The rights of infants : early psychological needs and their satisfaction / by Margaret A. Ribble, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/140 page 5
    was making studies of infants at the time. He was a full-term child and weighed six pounds three ounces at birth. During the two weeks’ stay in the hospital the baby was breast fed and there was no apparent difficulty with his body functions. The mother, a professional woman, had been reluctant about breast feeding because she wished to take up her work as soon as possible after the baby was born, but she yielded to the kindly encouragement of the hospital nurses, and the feeding was successful. Both mother and child were thriving when they left the hospital. On returning home the mother found that her husband had suddenly deserted her—the climax of an unhappy and malad- justed marriage relationship. She discovered soon after that her milk did not agree with the baby. As is frequently the case, the deep emotional reaction had affected her milk secretion. The infant refused the breast and began to vomit. Later he was taken to the hospital and the mother did not call to see him. At the end of a month she wrote that she had been seriously ill and asked the hospital to keep the child until further notice. In spite of careful medical attention and skillful feeding, this baby remained for two months at practically the same weight. He was in a crowded ward and received very little personal at- tention. The busy nurses had no time to take him up and work with him as a mother would, by changing his position and mak- ing him comfortable at frequent intervals. The habit of finger sucking developed, and gradually the child became what is known as a ruminator, his food coming up and going down with equal ease. At the age of two months he weighed five pounds. The baby at this time was transferred to a small children’s hospi- tal, with the idea that this institution might be able to give him more individual care. It became apparent that the mother had abandoned the child altogether. When seen by the writer, this baby actually looked like a seven months’ foetus yet he had also a strange appearance of oldness. His arms and legs were wrinkled and wasted, his head large in proportion to the rest of the body, his chest round and flaring widely at the base over an enormous liver. His breathing
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3