Totalitarianism began, and totalitarianism still begins in the
nursery. The first interfering with child nature is despotism.
That first interference is always in the matter of food. It starts
with forcing the newborn child to fast and to feed according to a
timetable.

The surface explanation for this is that timetable feeding in-
terferes less with the daily routine and the comfort of adults. But
deep down, the real motive is hatred of newborn life and its
natural needs. This is seen in the indifference and ease with
which certain families sometimes listen to the screams of the
hungry baby.

Self-regulation should begin with birth, with the very first
feedings. Every baby has the birthright of being fed when it
wants to be fed. It is easy for the mother to give the infant its
way if the mother has the baby at home. But in most hospital
maternity wards, the baby is taken away from the mother at
birth and placed in a nursery ward. The mother is not allowed
to nurse it or give it a bottle for the first twenty-four hours. Who
can say what permanent damage is done to that baby?

In some hospitals today, rooming-in care is provided so that
the infant is with the mother and under her personal care dur-
ing her entire stay. Registering in a maternity ward without first
making sure of this means that one must accept the system as it
is. Any mother who means to use self-regulation for her baby
should beware of going into a hospital that does not provide
rooming-in care--in other words, that does not approve of self-
regulation for the infant. It is far better to have your baby at
home than to subject it to such cruelty.

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