Diet in Childhood
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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
influence, and the health of the infant can be very much improved.
Infants have been greatly abused by improper treatment. If it was
fretful, it has generally been fed to keep it quiet, when, in most cases,
the very reason of its fretfulness was because of its having received
too much food, made injurious by the wrong habits of the mother.
More food only made the matter worse, for its stomach was already
overloaded.—How to Live 2:39, 40, 1865.
Regularity in Eating
343. The first education children should receive from the mother
in infancy should be in regard to their physical health. They should be
allowed only plain food, of that quality that would preserve to them the
best condition of health, and that should be partaken of only at regular
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periods, not oftener than three times a day, and two meals would be
better than three. If children are disciplined aright, they will soon
learn that they can receive nothing by crying or fretting. A judicious
mother will act in training her children, not merely in regard to her
own present comfort, but for their future good. And to this end she
will teach her children the important lesson of controlling the appetite,
and of self-denial, that they should eat, drink, and dress in reference to
health.—How to Live 2:47, 1865.
344. Your children should not be allowed to eat candies, fruit, nuts,
or anything in the line of food, between their meals. Two meals a
day are better for them than three. If the parents set the example, and
move from principle, the children will soon fall into line. Irregularities
in eating destroy the healthy tone of the digestive organs, and when
your children come to the table, they do not relish wholesome food;
their appetites crave that which is the most hurtful for them. Many
times your children have suffered from fever and ague brought on
by improper eating, when their parents were accountable for their
sickness. It is the duty of parents to see that their children form habits