Don'ts for Mothers - 9781408152232

Following the success of Don'ts for Husbands and Don'ts for Wives, this is a brand-new collection of hundreds of time-honored, often amusing bits of advice from the early twentieth century. Mixing sound and practical guidance with bizarre notions, it all proves that no generation of mothers was ever 100 percent clear on how to best raise a baby!

Featured quotes from the book:

"Don't feel it necessary to wash your infant's head with brandy."

"Don't, upon any account, entrust your babe at night to a young and thoughtless servant. Young girls are usually heavy sleepers and are thus too much overpowered with sleep to attend to their necessary duties."

"Don't kiss your infant on the mouth. Diphtheria, tuberculosis, and syphilis have often been communicated in this manner. Infants ought never to be kissed except on the forehead, and even that should be seldom permitted."

"Don't forgo the daily inspection of your child's diapers. A mother ought daily to satisfy herself as to the stage of the bladder and bowels of her infant."

"Don't dress children as men and women, dress children as children."