Counsels Regarding Motherhood
[
The Review and Herald, July 25, 1899
.]
Every woman about to become a mother whatever may be her
surroundings, should encourage constantly a happy, contented dis-
position, knowing that for all her efforts in this direction she will be
repaid tenfold in the physical, as well as in the moral, character of
her offspring. Nor is this all. By habit she can accustom herself to
cheerful thinking, and thus encourage a happy state of mind, and cast
a cheerful reflection of her own happiness of spirit upon her family
and those with whom she associates.
And in a very great degree her physical health will be improved.
A force will be imparted to the life springs; the blood will not move
sluggishly, as would be the case if she were to yield to despondency and
gloom. Her mental and moral health are invigorated by the buoyancy
of her spirits. The power of the will can resist impressions of the mind
and will prove a grand soother of the nerves. Children who are robbed
of that vitality which they should have inherited from their parents
should have the utmost care. By close attention to the laws of their
being a much better condition may be established.
The Feeding of Infants
The period in which the infant receives its nourishment from its
mother is critical. Many a mother, while nursing her infant, has been
permitted to overwork, heating her blood over the cookstove; 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 is also affected by
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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, or fits.
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