CH 79
(Counsels on Health 79)
Counsels Regarding Motherhood VC
[The Review and Herald, July 25, 1899.] (CH 79) MC VC
Every woman about to become a mother whatever may be her surroundings, should encourage constantly a happy, contented disposition, 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. (CH 79.1) MC VC
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. (CH 79.2) MC VC
The Feeding of Infants VC
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 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. (CH 79.3) MC VC