A Book of the Pyrenees. S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

indigestion. A missionary found it impossible to persuade his Indian servant to eat anything but slops directly after the birth of a son and heir, as he was persuaded heavy diet would injure the child. Then the missionary belaboured his servant with a stick, and sent him to look at his infant smiling in its sleep, and so convinced the man of his delusion.

      This may be the explanation. I cannot say. Mankind does many things out of sheer cussedness.