[Illustration]
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in a lecture to ladies, thus strongly states her
views regarding maternity and painless childbirth:
"We must educate our daughters to think that motherhood is grand, and that
God never cursed it. And this curse, if it be a curse, may be rolled off,
as man has rolled away the curse of labor; as the curse has been rolled
from the descendants of Ham. My mission is to preach this new gospel. If
you suffer, it is not because you are cursed of God, but because you
violate His laws. What an incubus it would take from woman could she be
educated to know that the pains of maternity are no curse upon her kind. We
know that among the Indians the squaws do not suffer in childbirth. They
will step aside from the ranks, even on the march, and return in a short
time to them with the newborn child. What an absurdity then, to suppose
that only enlightened Christian women are cursed. But one word of fact is
worth a volume of philosophy; let me give you some of my own experience. I
am the mother of seven children. My girlhood was spent mostly in the open
air. I early imbibed the idea that a girl was just as good as a boy, and I
carried it out. I would walk five miles before breakfast or {285} ride ten
on horseback. After I was married I wore my clothing sensibly. Their weight
hung entirely on my shoulders. I never compressed my body out of its
natural shape. When my first four children were born, I suffered very
little. I then made up my mind that it was totally unnecessary for me to
suffer at all; so I dressed lightly, walked every day, lived as much as
possible in the open air, ate no condiments or spices, kept quiet, listened
to music, looked at pictures, and took proper care of myself. The night
before the birth of the child I walked three miles. The child was born
without a particle of pain. I bathed it and dressed it, and it weighed ten
and one-half pounds. That same day I dined with the family. Everybody said
I would surely die, but I never had a relapse or a moment's inconvenience
from it. I know this is not being delicate and refined, but if you would be
vigorous and healthy, in spite of the diseases of your ancestors, and your
own disregard of nature's laws, try it."
* * * * *
Shall Pregnant Women Work?
1. OVER-WORKED MOTHERS.--Children born of over-worked mothers, are liable
to be a dwarfed and puny race. However, their chances are better than those
of the children of inactive, dependent, indolent mothers who have neither
brain nor muscle to transmit to son or daughter. The truth seems to be that
excessive labor, with either body or mind, is alike injurious to both men
and women, and herein lies the sting of that old curse. This paragraph
suggests all that need be said on the question whether pregnant women
should or should not labor.
2. FOOLISHLY IDLE.--At least it is certain that they should not be
foolishly idle; and on the other hand, it is equally certain that they
should be relieved from painful laborious occupations that exhaust and
unfit them for happiness. Pleasant and useful physical and intellectual
occupation, however, will not only do no harm, but positive good.
3. THE BEST MAN AND THE BEST WOMAN.--The best man is he who can rear the
best child, and the best woman is she who can rear the best child. We very
properly extol to the skies Harriet Hosmer, the artist, for cutting in
marble the statue of a Zenobia, how much more should we sing praises to the
man and the woman who bring into the world a noble boy or girl. The one is
a piece of lifeless beauty, the other a piece of life including all beauty,
all possibilities.
* * * * *
{286}
Words for Young Mothers.
[Illustration]
The act of nursing is sometimes painful to the mother, especially before
the habit is fully established. The discomfort is greatly increased if the
skin that covers the nipples is tender and delicate. The suction pulls it
off, leaving them in a state in which the necessary pressure of the child's
lips cause intense agony. This can be prevented in a great measure, says
Elizabeth Robinson Scovil, in _Ladies' Home Journal_, if not entirely, by
bathing the nipples twice a day for six weeks before the confinement with
powdered alum dissolved in alcohol; or salt dissolved in brandy. If there
is any symptom of the skin cracking when the child begins to nurse, they
should be painted with a mixture of tannin and glycerine. This must be
washed off before the baby touches them and renewed when it leaves them. If
they are {287} very painful, the doctor will probably order morphia added
to the mixture. A rubber nipple shield to be put on at the time of nursing,
is a great relief. If the nipples are retracted or drawn inward, they can
be drawn out painlessly by filling a pint bottle with boiling water,
emptying it and quickly applying the mouth over the nipple. As the air in
the bottle cools, it condenses, leaving a vacuum and the nipple is pushed
out by the air behind it.
When the milk accumulates or "cakes" in the breast in hard patches, they
should be rubbed very gently, from the base upwards, with warm camphorated
oil. The rubbing should be the lightest, most delicate stroking, avoiding
pressure. If lumps appear at the base of the breast and it is red, swollen
and painful, cloths wrung out of cold water should be applied and the
doctor sent for. While the breast is full and hard all over, not much
apprehension need be felt. It is when lumps appear that the physician
should be notified, that he may, if possible, prevent the formation of
abscesses.
While a woman is nursing she should eat plenty of nourishing food--milk,
oatmeal, cracked wheat, and good juicy, fresh meat, boiled, roasted, or
broiled, but not fried. Between each meal, before going to bed, and once
during the night, she should take a cup of cocoa, gruel made with milk,
good beef tea, mutton broth, or any warm, nutritive drink. Tea and coffee
are to be avoided. It is important to keep the digestion in order and the
bowels should be carefully regulated as a means to this end. If necessary,
any of the laxative mineral waters can be used for this purpose, or a
teaspoonful of compound licorice powder taken at night. Powerful cathartic
medicines should be avoided because of their effect upon the baby. The
child should be weaned at nine months old, unless this time comes in very
hot weather, or the infant is so delicate that a change of food would be
injurious. If the mother is not strong her nurseling will sometimes thrive
better upon artificial food than on its natural nourishment. By gradually
lengthening the interval between the nursing and feeding the child, when it
is hungry, the weaning can be accomplished without much trouble.
A young mother should wear warm underclothing, thick stockings and a
flannel jacket over her night dress, unless she is in the habit of wearing
an under vest. If the body is not protected by warm clothing there is an
undue demand upon the nervous energy to keep up the vital heat, and nerve
force is wasted by the attempt to compel the system to do what ought to be
done for it by outside means.
[Illustration]
{288}
How to Have Beautiful Children.
[Illustration]
1. PARENTAL INFLUENCE.--The art of having handsome children has been a
question that has interested the people of all ages and of all
nationalities. There is no longer a question as to the influence that
parents may and do exert upon their offspring, and it is shown in other
parts of this book that beauty depends largely on the condition of health
at the time of conception. It is therefore of no little moment that parents
should guard carefully their own health as well as that of their children,
that they may develop a vigorous constitution. There cannot be beauty
without good health.
2. MARRYING TOO EARLY.--We know that marriage at too early an age, or too
late in life, is apt to produce imperfectly {289} developed children, both
mentally and physically. The causes are self-evident: A couple marrying too
young, they lack maturity and consequently will impart weakness to their
offspring; while on the other hand persons marrying late in life fail to
find that normal condition which is conducive to the health and vigor of
offspring.
3. CROSSING OF TEMPERAMENTS AND NATIONALITIES.--The crossing of
temperaments and nationalities beautifies offspring. If young persons of
different nationalities marry, their children under proper hygienic laws
are generally handsome and healthy. For instance, an American and German or
an Irish and German uniting in marriage, produces better looking children
than those marrying in the same nationality. Persons of different
temperaments uniting in marriage, always produces a good effect upon
offspring.
4. THE PROPER TIME.--To obtain the best results, conception should take
place only when both parties are in the best physical condition. If either
parent is in any way indisposed at the time of conception the results will
be seen in the health of the child. Many children brought in the world with
diseases or other infirmities stamped upon their feeble frames show the
indiscretion and ignorance of parents.
5. DURING PREGNANCY.--During pregnancy the mother should take time for self
improvement and cultivate an interest for admiring beautiful pictures or
engravings which represent cheerful and beautiful figures. Secure a few
good books illustrating art, with some fine representations of statues and
other attractive pictures. The purchase of several illustrated art journals
might answer the purpose.
6. WHAT TO AVOID.--Pregnant mothers should avoid thinking of ugly people,
or those marked by any deformity or disease; avoid injury, fright and
disease of any kind. Also avoid ungraceful position and awkward attitude,
but cultivate grace and beauty in herself. Avoid difficulty with neighbors
or other trouble.
7. GOOD CARE.--She should keep herself in good physical condition, and the
system well nourished, as a want of food always injures the child.
8. THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND.--The mother should read suitable articles
in newspapers or good books, keep her mind occupied. If she cultivates a
desire for intellectual improvement, the same desire will be more or less
manifested in the growth and development of the child. {290}
9. LIKE PRODUCES LIKE, everywhere and always--in general forms and in
particular features--in mental qualities and in bodily conditions--in
tendencies of thought and in habits of action. Let this grand truth be
deeply impressed upon the hearts of all who desire or expect to become
parents.
10. HEREDITY.--Male children generally inherit the peculiar traits and
diseases of the mother and female children those of the father.
11. ADVICE.--"Therefore it is urged that during the period of
utero-gestation, especial pains should be taken to render the life of the
female as harmonious as possible, that her surroundings should all be of a
nature calculated to inspire the mind with thoughts of physical and mental
beauties and perfections, and that she should be guarded against all
influences, of whatever character, having a deteriorating tendency."
[Illustration]
{292}
Education of the Child in the Womb.
"A lady once interviewed a prominent college president and asked him
when the education of a child should begin. 'Twenty-five years before
it is born,' was the prompt reply."
No better answer was ever given to that question. Every mother may well
consider it.
[Illustration: THE BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY.]
1. THE UNBORN CHILD AFFECTED BY THE THOUGHTS AND THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE
MOTHER.--That the child is affected in the womb of the mother, through the
influences apparently connected with objects by which she is surrounded,
appears to have been well known in ancient days, as well as at the present
time.
2. EVIDENCES.--Many evidences are found in ancient history, especially
among the refined nations, showing that certain expedients were resorted to
by which their females, during the period of utero-gestation, were
surrounded by the superior refinements of the age, with the hope of thus
making upon them impressions which should have the effect of communicating
certain desired qualities to the offspring. For this reason apartments were
adorned with statuary and paintings, and special pains were taken not only
to convey favorable impressions, but also to guard against unfavorable ones
being made, upon the mind of the pregnant woman.
3. HANKERING AFTER GIN.--A certain mother while pregnant, longed for gin,
which could not be gotten; and her child cried incessantly for six weeks
till gin was given it, which it eagerly clutched and drank with ravenous
greediness, stopped crying, and became healthy.
4. BEGIN TO EDUCATE CHILDREN AT CONCEPTION, and continue during their
entire carriage. Yet maternal study, of little account before the sixth,
after it, is most promotive of talents; which, next to goodness are the
father's joy and the mother's pride. What pains are taken after they are
born, to render them prodigies of learning, by the best of schools and
teachers from their third year; whereas their mother's study, three months
before their birth, would improve their intellects infinitely more.
5. MOTHERS, DOES GOD THUS PUT the endowment of your darlings into your
moulding power? Then tremble in view of its necessary responsibilities, and
learn how to wield them for their and your temporal and eternal happiness.
{293}
6. QUALITIES OF THE MIND.--The qualities of the mind are perhaps as much
liable to hereditary transmission as bodily configuration.
[Illustration]
Memory, intelligence, judgment, imagination, passions, diseases, and what
is usually called genius, are often very markedly traced in the
offspring.--I have known mental impressions forcibly impressed upon the
offspring at the time of conception, as concomitant of some peculiar
eccentricity, idiosyncracy, morbidness, waywardness, irritability, or
proclivity of either one or both parents.
7. THE PLASTIC BRAIN.--The plastic brain of the foetus is prompt to receive
all impressions. It retains them, and they become the characteristics of
the child and the man. Low spirits, violent passions, irritability,
frivolity, in the pregnant woman, leave indelible marks on the unborn
child.
8. FORMATION OF CHARACTER.--I believe that pre-natal influences may do as
much in the formation of character as all the education that can come
after, and that mothers may, in a measure, "will," what that influence
shall be, and that, as knowledge on the subject increases, it will be more
and more under their control. In that, as in everything else, things that
would be possible with one mother would not be with another, and measures
that would be successful with one would produce opposite results from the
other.
9. A HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATION.--A woman rode side by side with her soldier
husband, and witnessed the drilling of troops for battle. The scene
inspired her with a deep longing to see a battle and share in the
excitements of the {294} conquerors. This was but a few months before her
boy was born, and his name was Napoleon.
10. A MUSICIAN.--The following was reported by Dr. F. W. Moffatt, in the
mother's own language: "When I was first pregnant, I wished my offspring to
be a musician, so, during the period of that pregnancy, settled my whole
mind on music, and attended every musical entertainment I possibly could. I
had my husband, who has a violin, to play for me by the hour. When the
child was born, it was a girl, which grew and prospered, and finally became
an expert musician."
11. MURDEROUS INTENT.--The mother of a young man, who was hung not long
ago, was heard to say: "I tried to get rid of him before he was born; and,
oh, how I wish now that I had succeeded!" She added that it was the only
time she had attempted anything of the sort; but, because of home troubles,
she became desperate, and resolved that her burdens should not be made any
greater. Does it not seem probable that the murderous intent, even though
of short duration, was communicated to the mind of the child, and resulted
in the crime for which he was hung?
12. THE ASSASSIN OF GARFIELD.--Guiteau's father was a man of integrity and
considerable intellectual ability. His children were born in quick
succession, and the mother was obliged to work very hard. Before this child
was born, she resorted to every means, though unsuccessful, to produce
abortion. The world knows the result. Guiteau's whole life was full of
contradictions. There was little self-controlling power in him; no common
sense, and not a vestige of remorse or shame. In his wild imagination, he
believed himself capable of doing the greatest work, and of filling the
loftiest station in life. Who will dare question that this mother's effort
to destroy him while in embryo was the main cause in bringing him to the
level of the brutes?
13. CAUTION.--Any attempt, on the part of the mother, to destroy her child
before birth, is liable, if unsuccessful, to produce murderous tendencies.
Even harboring murderous thoughts, whether toward her own child or not,
might be followed by similar results.
"The great King of kings
Hath in the table of His law commanded
That thou shalt do no murder. Wilt thou, then,
Spurn at His edict, and fulfill a man's?
Take heed, for He holds vengeance in His hand
To hurl upon their heads that break his law."--RICHARD III., _Act 1._
* * * * *
{295}
How to Calculate the Time of Expected Labor.
[Illustration: The Embryo In Sixty Days.]
1. The table on the opposite page has been very accurately compiled, and
will be very helpful to those who desire the exact time.
2. The duration of pregnancy is from 278 to 280 days, or nearly forty
weeks. The count should be made from the beginning of the last
menstruation, and add eight days on account of the possibility of it
occurring within that period The heavier the child the longer is the
duration; the younger the woman the longer time it often requires. The
duration is longer in married than in unmarried women; the duration is
liable to be longer if the child is a female.
3. MOVEMENT.--The first movement is generally felt on the 135th day after
impregnation.
4. GROWTH OF THE EMBRYO.--About the twentieth day the embryo resembles the
appearance of an ant or lettuce seed; the 30th day the embryo is as large
as a common horse fly; the 40th day the form resembles that of a person; in
sixty days the limbs begin to form, and in four months the embryo takes the
name of foetus.
5. Children born after seven or eight months can survive and develop to
maturity.
* * * * *
{296}