Chapter 44—Care Of Little Children
Correct Attitudes for the Nursing Mother—The best food for
the infant is the food that nature provides. Of this it should not be
needlessly deprived. It is a heartless thing for a mother, for the sake
of convenience or social enjoyment, to seek to free herself from the
tender office of nursing her little one
The period in which the infant receives its nourishment from the
mother is critical. Many mothers, while nursing their infants, have
been permitted to overlabor and to heat their blood in cooking; and the
nursling has been seriously affected, not only with fevered nourishment
from the mother’s breast, but its blood has been poisoned by the
unhealthy diet of the mother, which has fevered her whole system,
thereby affecting the food of the infant. The infant will also be affected
by the condition of the mother’s mind. If she is unhappy, easily
agitated, irritable, giving vent to outbursts of passion, the nourishment
the infant receives from its mother will be inflamed, often producing
colic, spasms, and in some instances causing convulsions and fits.
The character also of the child is more or less affected by the nature
of the nourishment received from the mother. How important then that
the mother, while nursing her infant, should preserve a happy state of
mind, having the perfect control of her own spirit. By thus doing, the
food of the child is not injured, and the calm, self-possessed course the
mother pursues in the treatment of her child has very much to do in
molding the mind of the infant. If it is nervous and easily agitated, the
mother’s careful, unhurried manner will have a soothing and correcting
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influence, and the health of the infant can be very much improved
The more quiet and simple the life of the child, the more favorable
it will be to both physical and mental development. At all times the
mother should endeavor to be quiet, calm, and self-possessed
1
The Ministry of Healing, 383
.
2
Counsels on Diet and Foods, 228
.
3
The Ministry of Healing, 381
.
194