The article aims to explore the circumstances of the origin of the pediatric patronage in Russia. The objective of the study is to prove that the basic methods of work with infants and their mothers were formulated and tested not in Soviet Russia, but during 1860—1910ies. The author uses an interdisciplinary, anthropologically oriented approach, makes use of the so-called everyday methods, biographical methods, as well as methods of gender and micro history. The research focuses not only on mothers of workers and peasants, but also on mothers of nobility. The article uses both objective sources of information (reports, charters of an association of charities), and subjective ones — egodocuments (women's diaries and autobiographical account), which allows to represent the process of pediatric patronage birth from the point of view of the patient, from the inside.
The author argues that pediatric nursing appeared among the higher strata of society at the beginning of the XX c. in Russia. Its appearance was due to the spread of the child-centrism, “conscious motherhood” and the development of pediatric knowledge. The ideology of “conscious motherhood”, professionalization of mothers led to the fact that women in the daily care of children didn't trust their own knowledge or the advice of their friends, but only the instructions of professionals — qualified pediatricians. The attention of parents to their children's health was due to the adoption of a new type of fertility (the reduction of the childbirth in a woman's life and more careful attention to their education and development). So was formed a tandem of mother, concerned with the development of her child, and private practicing doctor. The main elements of the pediatric patronage were: regular visits to practitioners of the noble families with children, distance consultation with specialists and rare visits of the doctor, keeping mothers “parent diaries” under control of pediatri-cians. Those changes led to medicalization of motherhood and childhood.
Through the activities of philanthropic organizations pediatric nursing began to spread to families of workers and peasants. The institute of visiting nurses emerged in Russia. Mothers from lower social strata, according to reports of charity societies, resisted penetration of healthcare services in the field of child care. The appeal of the government to the development of the laws of the pediatric patronage was held under the significant influence of public debate. This refutes the assertion of foreign historians about the insufficient deve¬lopment of legislative acts and ignoring the public interest.read in PDF>>>
