Losing a child at any age can be heart rending. However, when a child dies as a infant, it seems especially tragic.

By knowing and understanding Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation (Happiness) we can take comfort in knowing that children go back to live with our Heavenly Father and that their exaltation is assured.

We All Come to Earth to Gain a Body

One of the main purposes in coming to this earth is to gain a body, as well as the knowledge and experiences necessary for us to mature and advance eternally.

Children who die as infants have gained a body. It does not matter that they only had it for a short time. Having obtained it they can progress eternally and will eventually return to it when they are resurrected.

In His infinite wisdom, Heavenly Father has provided a way for the infants to get what knowledge and experiences they need, even when they leave this earth after only a short time.

Infant Baptism is Not a True Principle

Jesus Christ did not baptize infants and he did not preach that infants need baptism. This is a modern corruption to His original church.

He did demonstrate and teach that baptism needs to be done through immersion, rather than some other method such as sprinkling.

These truths, having been lost, were restored when Jesus Christ restored the fulness of His gospel to the earth once more.

Modern prophets have revealed that infants do not need to be baptized.

Children Are Not Capable of Sinning

Baptism's purpose is to allow people to repent of their sins and experience a spiritual rebirth.

Infants arrive on this earth pure and unsullied. They are not tainted by original sin or any other sins.

Furthermore, they are not capable of repenting; but, since they have no sin, there is no need for them to repent. For this reason, infants do not need to be baptized.

Baptism Takes Place at the Age of Accountability

Children must understand right and wrong and be capable of repenting. This age of accountability takes place at eight years of age. This has been established via modern revelation.

For this reason, no one is baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until they reach this age.

Some people never achieve a mental age of eight due to disabilities, injuries or such. These people are never baptized and we believe they are accorded all the benefits and blessings accorded to children who die before age eight.

Parents Will Be Able to Raise their Child to Maturity After Resurrection

One of the astonishing truths that modern prophets have revealed is that parents will be able to raise their children to maturity after the child is resurrected.

The child's body will be resurrected at the level it was at when it died. Parents will have a second chance!

We do not have any details on how this will be accomplished. We simply know that it is true.

Children Who Die Before Baptism Inherit the Celestial Kingdom

In the three degrees of heaven, the Celestial kingdom is the highest level. It is the level we all desire to attain. Children who die before age eight go there automatically.

Since we attain the degree of glory we deserve, children who die young somehow deserve the Celestial Kingdom.

We can take comfort that, as an omniscient being, Heavenly Father is a just judge; even if we do not currently understand why this is just.

Where This Knowledge Comes From

Our first President and Prophet, Joseph Smith and his wife Emma lost several children in childhood and soon after birth. Perhaps because of these losses, he was concerned about their fate. We have many truths about infant death from revelations he received.

In addition, the prophet saw his deceased brother Alvin in the Celestial Kingdom. Alvin was 25 years old when he died and had not yet been baptized. This caused Joseph Smith to query the Lord on why Alvin gained the Celestial Kingdom.

Later presidents and prophets, such as Wilford Woodruff and Joseph F. Smith, also lost children to death. Their revelations and teachings give us further knowledge of the special circumstances of infant death.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, an Apostle. addressed this topic in 1977 in a General Conference address. He combined all the modern knowledge of scripture we have.

Because of their revelations, queries to Heavenly Father and their subsequent teachings to us, we have had theses truths about infant death for a long time.

Note: Elizabeth's life lasted just over six months, slightly into January 2014. She died suddenly of an unknown illness.