Natural And Healthy Childhood

119 Pages·26.456 MB·English

by  Jessie R. Thomson, C. Leslie Thomson

/ Natural and Healthy
Childhood,
Jessie R Thomson
In the middle 1920s, amid her rapidly-growing Naturopathic
practice with prospective mothers, infants and youngsters, Jessie R.
Thomson felt the need for a simple, straightforward guide, to which
mothers could refer for help with the everyday problems of child-
rearing. The outcome in 1927 — Healthy Childhood - was an immediate
success; in 1952, on the basis of her still greater professional experi­
ence, J.R.T. produced an extended version.
In these forms, the book became accepted as a classical work of
reference. Three generations later, and fifty years after the.original
notes were being compiled, there is as much - if not more - need for
Jessie R. Thomson’s calm, sane and simple philosophy.
In this new revision, every care has been taken to preserve the
character ofJ.R.T’s message, which needs no emendation; but the
world has changed, and so alterations have been necessary. For the
most part, these reflect such developments as the welcome dis­
continuation of compulsory vaccination, the sad disappearance of
honest-to-goodness, fresh, raw milk, a wider acceptance of psycholo­
gical factors and the many and varied effects of social upheaval.
Where the only predictable is unpredictability, we must hope that
the fundamental and lasting principles of Nature Cure living will
continue to attract, and be understood by, parents and their children.
Jacket design by
JENNIE MILLER
£1-98
SUN 85207 138 6
Natural and
Healthy Childhood
Jessie R. Thomson
Revised by C. Leslie Thomson
both of The Kingston Clinic, Edinburgh
THE C. W. DANIEL COMPANY LIMITED
60 MUSWELL ROAD, LONDON N10
First published 1927
Extended and rewritten 1952
Completely revised 1976
Published in Great Britain by
The C. W. Daniel Company Ltd
60 Muswell Road, London N10 2BE
© C. Leslie Thomson 1976
SBN 85207 139 6
Rtcyclad Paptr
The text of this book is printed on
paper made entirely from British waste.
Set in lOpt Baskerville, lpt leaded and printed and bound by the
White Crescent Press, Luton, Beds, using re-cycled paper supplied
by Frank Grunfeld Ltd, 32 Bedford Square, London WC1.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE Page
Preparation for Motherhood Uncomplicated natural
births among primitive and civilised mothers. Bad effects
of instrumental and induced delivery. Exercises and routines
for easy childbirth. Aftercare of the mother. The Get-
about-soon plan. 7
CHAPTER TWO
The New Baby Important advice about the umbilical
cord. The need for skin attention. Sun, air and water
baths. Clothing and baby’s cot. 16
CHAPTER THREE
Food for the Infant The nursing mother. Precautions
with bottle-fed babies. A special warning about
pasteurised milk. Feeding techniques described. Weaning.
The meaning of‘Milk’. 21
CHAPTER FOUR
Sleep Early difficulties and the effect upon the mother.
Simple ways to keep a baby from becoming a difficult
child. 30
CHAPTER FIVE
Teething, Walking and Talking Pitfalls to avoid. 34
3
Contents
CHAPTER SIX
Vaccination Some fallacies exposed. About diphtheria,
polio, etc.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Vegetables Without Tears The psychology of salads.
Avoid talking about diet. Homer Lane on the importance
of choice.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Food Tables for all Ages Protein insufficiency. Excess
starch. The nervous child. Boarding school food. Effects
of N-C feeding in two boarding schools. How to improve
health and lessen accidents.
CHAPTER NINE
Fresh Air, Sunshine and Exercise Serious conditions
clear up with sun and air baths. A word of advice on
exercises.
CHAPTER TEN
Punishment and Fear The effects of unjust punishment,
dull parents, ragging and fairy tales.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A Few Don’ts Sitting up too soon. The high chair. Toys
to avoid. Harmful suggestions.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Home Treatments How to become one’s own family
doctor, with advice on the simple handling of various
troubles.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Constipation More harm is done by worrying about
constipation than by the condition itself. Important do’s
and don’ts.
Contents
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Page
Bowel Upsets Summer diarrhoea. Parasites. The
importance of fasting and compresses. 70
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Tantrums and Hysteria When an angel child turns into
an imp. The tantrum; misdirected energy. ‘Hysteria’. 73
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Infantile Convulsions Teething complications.
Unhealthy bowel conditions. Fear and shock. Result of birth
injury. Simple home treatments. 76
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Tonsils and Adenoids The underlying causes.
Understanding. Home treatments and an outline of
balanced feeding. Quick clearing up possible. 79
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Fevers Good advice from Sir William Osier. Home
treatments. The importance of segregation. The place
and purpose of acute disease. 83
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mumps Accidental causes and the use of head
compresses. 88
CHAPTER TWENTY
Coughs Ticklish cough. Whooping cough. Advice on
food and exercise. The importance of frequent
examination in early life. Simple handling of the
common cold with advice on foods. 91
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Skin Diseases Significance. Sensitive children mostly
affected. Parents’ problems. Drugs that produce skin
rashes. 97
5
Contents
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Page
Unhappy Habits Bed-wetting. Reversion to babyhood.
Physical causes. Thumb-sucking and nail-biting. 101
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Daily Mishaps Simple cuts, burns, sunburn, ear
blockage, sprains. 105
CPIAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The ‘Difficult’ Child The need for understanding.
The problem child commonly results from neglect.
Stealing. Parental responsibility. Too early separation from
mother. The lonely child. 108
INDEX 115
6
CHAPTER ONE
Preparation
for Motherhood
Among enlightened practitioners it is no longer accepted that child
birth is necessarily agonising or in any degree pathological. An
increasing number are aware and teach that such an entirely normal
function should be painless and free from anxiety. They argue that
primitive women, like undomesticated animals, bear their young
free from pain or fear. Only when such women come under the
influence of civilisation, adopting its artificial standards of be­
haviour and its unnatural habits do they experience the complicated
births of their ‘enlightened’ sisters. It is surprising how many other­
wise reasonable women become reproachful when the possibility of a
painless birth is suggested. ‘After all, my dear, they are little more
than animals.’ Yet from these simple, untutored peoples one of the
fundamental teachings of Nature Cure might be learned - that very
often the best treatment is an intelligent leaving alone.
In his fascinating book Childbirth Without Fear, Grantly Dick Reid,
recounts innumerable interesting cases of painless childbirth.
md,
One he describes in an unforgettable way: ‘I was told that a girl
had been taken ill and I walked over from our camp to a field in a
corner of which, in high undergrowth, I found her by herself. She
did not in any way appear to resent my intrusion . . . With the
recurrence of the contractions, her face became set, not with pain or
fear, but almost with a sense of expectancy. Within a short time a
child arrived. It is possible that during the last 10 minutes there was
evidence that her expectation amounted almost to apprehension.
The child appeared when she was in a half sitting position. It
seemed that she smiled almost immediately ... For some minutes it
lay and cried and she took it in her hands. After a time its yells were
all that could be demanded of a newly-born baby and I observed
that the cord was already like a thin white string. She took this in
her fingers, about six inches from the umbilicus, and neatly severed
7
Preparation for Motherhood
it . . . She wrapped the baby in the cloth that was around her
shoulders and then looked at me and laughed . . .’
Nature Cure Babies
Such happy freedom from complications in childbirth is by no
means restricted to primitive peoples.
Among our patients we have a steadily increasing number of
cases of uncomplicated childbirths where the birth pains lasted from
30 to 45 minutes. One very young mother who had been reared on
Nature Cure lines, greeted me with these words, ‘Do you know, it
was almost enjoyable!’
A grandmother wrote: ‘My daughter’s baby was born in 40
minutes before supper, and by 9 p.m. she was tucked up and nearly
asleep. I would not have believed a birth could be so easy and so
happy a thing. The District Nurse was here, but no doctor. This was
exactly as my daughter wished. I put a cold compress on her that
night. She has been down today, and both thrive.’
We find it is as easy as that for any normal woman who knows
what she is about and is willing to trust to her own instincts and
powers. Having established herself well away from all professional
fussiness and interference, the sequence above was just what should
happen.
Anthony Ludovici observes in The Truth About Childbirth:
‘Many orthodox doctors become literally furious when painless
childbirth is suggested. “Please, remember,” said a one-time senior
Obstetrical Physician to Guy’s Hospital, “there is no such thing as a
painless labour: it would be abnormal if it were painless.” So!
Despite considerable data submitted to disprove this statement,
pessimism persists.’
The attitude of people of such eminence makes headway difficult.
We continue, however, to teach that normal birth should be expec­
ted if the pre-natal period is a time of careful preparation and co­
operative understanding.
It is not enough to engage the services of a reliable physician, an
experienced nurse and a pleasant nursing home. The joy or un­
happiness of motherhood is largely determined by how the parents
have lived over the years previous to the birth of their child. Ideally,
preparation for parenthood should begin long before conception,
but particularly we must study how the mother is to live during
pregnancy.
Satisfactory solutions are not possible at the last moment. It is
unfair to the doctor or midwife to be faced with such problems as
arise out of the mother’s flabby, atonic muscles, watery, fragile
8