Proficient nerd on most things baby/ culture/ history/book related. Disability advocate. Has a penchant for photography, languages, and panics when low on chocolate rations. Will embarrass self in any social situation to point out or pet other people's dogs. Habitual stumbler and tea drinker. People watcher, pizza slayer.
I wrote this article for the Iowa City Babywearers group blog, published February 18th, 2018. We decided to retire the group in March of this year and our website will be expiring in November, so I thought I would salvage a few of the most popular articles and share them […]
The runaway baby carriage is a classic film trope but does it really happen in real life? where did the trope get started?
Did they really feed sick babies sunless tanner in the 1950’s?
Today we’re looking at baby carriers in William Hogarth’s The March of the Guards to Finchley from 1750. The March of the Guards to Finchley, depicts a fictional troop of buffoonish British troops in Tottenham Court Road, in London, on their way to fight the Jacobean forces in the uprising […]
Rani Lakshmibai, also know as Rani of Jhansi, has inspired countless works of art featuring her charging into battle on horseback with a baby on her back. In this video, we learn more about her life and what led to the famous scene.
This painting by Jan Steen features common baby accessories from the 17th century: teethers, falling caps, and leading strings:
What qualified as a natural birth in the 16th century? In this post, we look at what the Birth of Mankind, from 1540, had to say about a natural birth in the Tudor Era including birthing positions, recipes for potions, pessaries, vaginal incense, pain relieving lubricants, herbal baths with toxic heavy metals, as well as what kind of diet and exercise the Tudor woman should have in later pregnancy and during labor.
The frequently misrepresented sketch of a Ugandan woman’s surgical delivery, in 1879, as witnessed and recorded by Robert W. Felkin and presented to the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society in 1884.
A young woman nursing a baby, was painted in 1868 by Dutch landscape painter, Jacob Maris. He was living in Paris when he painted this portrait of his wife Catharina Hendrika Horn breastfeeding their first baby, Guillaume [gee-um] who was born in April of 1868 and tragically died the following […]
Learn more about the first book in English on pregnancy, birth, and newborn care: The Byrth of Mankynde, 1540.
