Baby Planners

On the basis of 35,188 obstetrical cases, Johns Hopkins' Dr. Nicholson Joseph Eastman concluded that spacing babies widely is no advantage to the babies or their mothers (TIME, May 22, 1944). His findings have now been amended somewhat by a man who has studied more figures--7,151,631 births.

Says the Public Health Service's top statistician, Dr. Jacob Yerushalmy: babies spaced at "moderate intervals" have the best chance of being born alive. Dr. Yerushalmy did not specify what a "moderate interval" is. The best time to have a second child, said the doctor, is at 20 to 24, and the best time to have the sixth through eighth is in the early 30s.

Another statistician, Metropolitan Life Insurance's Paris R. Eastman (no kin to Nicholas J.), was sure which is the best month. Said he in last week's American Journal of Public Health: ". . . August babies have the best chance of surviving to their first birthday. . . ."

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