Category: Babies
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Seinfeld & Circumcision in the 1990s
I have been re-watching the Seinfeld series on Netflix. For the young whippersnappers, it was a primetime sitcom that ran from 1989 – 1998. The show was considered revolutionary for being about “nothing”, just the lives of its four main characters who live in Manhattan: Jerry Seinfeld, George Constanza, Eliane Bennis, and Cosmo Kramer. The […]
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The Great Chicago Baby Mix-Up
If you give birth at a hospital how well do you trust that the baby you go home with is the baby you gave birth to? Today most hospitals still rely on name tags, though with some high-tech gadgets like security cameras, bar code scanners, foot and fingerprint readers, and of course there’s DNA testing […]
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The Cholmondeley Sisters | Art History
The painting popularly known as The Cholmondeley Sisters resided at the Vale Royal Abbey in Cheshire, from approximately 1615 until it was sold in 1939 as Two Ladies of the Cholmondeley Family to the Howard Family. It was sold again in 1955 to an owner who presented it anonymously to the Tate Gallery in London, […]
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The Formula Shortage
The ongoing infant formula shortage is history in the making. Events are still unfolding as I write this but I thought the situation merited more than the Rabbit Hole segment from last week. Edit: I’ve decided to add to this post instead of making new ones as I get more information. Table of Contents Unclean […]
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What Did Jane Austen Think About Motherhood | Pt 2.3
In part one of this series, I covered the births of Jane Austen and her seven siblings, and the childcare strategies of her parents in 18th century England. Across the five chapters of part two, I will show that Jane’s attitudes about marriage were shaped– not by her desire to become a published author– but […]
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Can Babies Breathe and Swallow at the Same Time? | Rabbit Holes #Shorts
The theory that babies can breathe and swallow at the same time dates back to the 19th century but is starting to trend again according to a Contemporary Pediatrics article published last week. “The idea that babies can breathe and swallow at the same time joins a very long list of incorrect/dangerous notions developed, often […]
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Norman Barwin: Canada’s Sperm Swapping Fertility Doctor | Rabbit Holes #Shorts
A #short Rabbit Hole! Canada’s former “baby god” was busted for using his own sperm in fertility treatments. Norman Barwin, a former fertility specialist from Ottawa, so highly lauded as to be awarded the Order of Canada, fathered over twelve children using his own sperm instead of the sperm of the parents. Parents grew suspicious […]
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“An Essay Upon Nursing” 1748 | Primary Source Read Along
This is a read-along of William Cadogan’s letter to the governors of the Foundling Hospital in London, published in 1748. Cadogan doesn’t approve of the way women or old-timey doctors managed infant care because their approaches aren’t natural. He proposes a feeding schedule that would result in malnutrition for any infant: four feedings in twenty-four […]
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White Blood: A History of Human Milk | Book Review
“White Blood: A history of human milk– How babies have been fed from antiquity to modern times and why it matters” by Lawrence Trevelyan Weaver, comes out July 30, 2021.
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Jane Austen’s Birth | Pt 1
In my Jane Austen Thinks series, I explore the Austens’ family letters, Jane’s novels, as well as contemporary fashions, scientific developments, and politics in England to get a better understanding of what life was like for growing families in the late 18th and early 19th century; and to get an idea of what Jane Austen […]
The Baby Historian 