King Benjamin, who anointed his successor ca. 124 B.C. (see commentary accompanying Mosiah 6:4), had explained the correct principle earlier in Nephite history, but those proposing the baptism of little children had missed its importance: “For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:18).
If the infant who died in infancy did not perish, then there was no need for a baptism. The only reason for baptizing infants was if some eternal danger could be prevented by baptism. Such a danger simply did not exist.