Category: Birth

• Natural Birth in the Tudor Era

  

  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…

  Aradia Wyndham

  February 21, 2020

  Birth, Video

  16th century, Birth, birth positions, childbirth, herbal baths, labor diet, labor pain, laxatives, mercury, midwifery, natural birth, potions, prenatal care, prenatal diet, prenatal exercise, saffron, the birth of mankind, Tudor era, vaginal fumigation, vaginal incense, wine

• The Byrth of Mankynde, 1540 | Book History

  

  Learn more about the first book in English on pregnancy, birth, and newborn care: The Byrth of Mankynde, 1540.

  Aradia Wyndham

  February 7, 2020

  Birth, Pregnancy, Video

  apothecary, baby, Birth, birth figures, book history, Catherine Parr, childbirth, early modern, England, English, Eucharist Rosslyn, Henry VIII, history, history of medicine, latin, literacy, midwife, midwifery, neonatal, New York Academy of Medicine, newborn, obstetrics, pediatrics, physician, postpartum, Pregnancy, printing press, protestantism, reading, Richard Jonas, Royal Collection Trust, Royal College of Physicians, soranus, surgeon, Thomas Raynalde, Tudor, vernacular, Wellcome Collection

• Humoral Medicine | Pregnancy, Birth, and Breastfeeding in the Middle Ages

  

  Learn about the humoral theory and it’s ideas about pregnancy, birth, and infant care including breastfeeding.

  Aradia Wyndham

  December 21, 2019

  Babies, Birth, Pregnancy, Video

  ancient history, ancient rome, balance, Birth, bloodletting, breastfeeding, Breastmilk, cold, diet, disease, fetus, Galen, gestation, Hippocrates, humoral, humoral medicine, humoral theory, humoural, inducing labor, infertility, lifestyle, marriage, massage, medical myth, medieval, Mediterranean, menstruation, middle ages, midwifery, miscarriage, orgasm, period, physician, post term, Pregnancy, premature infant, purging, quickening, sex, surgeon, swaddling, The Boke of Chyldren, trotula, wetnurse

• Scribonia Attice, Ancient Roman Midwife

  

  Scribonia Attice was a midwife in ancient Rome; a well-respected professional who considered herself the equal of her husband, a surgeon.

  Aradia Wyndham

  October 2, 2019

  Birth, Video

  ancient history, ancient rome, art history, Birth, history, history of medicine, home birth, Italy, latin, midwife, midwifery, professional, sculpture, tomb

• American Postpartum Menu from 1913 | Dr Tuley

  

  While ideas about what constitutes a healthy menu plan have certainly changed; cocoa being delicious and nutritious is eternal.

  Aradia Wyndham

  September 1, 2019

  Birth, Blog, Video

  1913, 20th century, America, Dr. Tuley, food, nutrition, postpartum, postpartum help

• The Racist Origins of the Obstetrical Dilemma | Squished Pt 1

  

  So you’re an obstetrician in the early 20th century. You want to expand your practice to include all pregnancies and births, not just the high risk ones (but not those of black women, oh no!) So you gather up some sexist and racist drivel and viola! The Obstetrical Dilemma is born… and it’s killing women…

  Aradia Wyndham

  September 24, 2018

  Birth, Blog, Pregnancy

  cesarean, childbirth, fetopelvic disproportion, Jim Crow, maternal mortality, newborn, obstetrical dilemma, racism, Schultz, Scientific American, sexism, Washburn, WHO

• Birth and Carriers in Indonesia

  

  Learn how the peoples of Indonesia incorporate their infant carriers into their postpartum traditions.

  Aradia Wyndham

  March 3, 2015

  Babies, Birth, Blog

  ancestors, Aspects of Baby Wrappings, Beloved Burden, Birth, color, dukun bayi, East Nussa, folding, gendhongan, generational, I.C. Van Hout, indigo, Indonesia, Java, kain panjang, lotus birth, Luwu, matrilineal, midwife, N.U. Russell, newborn, pattern, pipitan, placenta, public hair, putihan, R. Heringa, rituals, sarrong, sayut, selendang, South Sulawesi, status, tapih ciyut, tapih wijar, wengko mole

• Beng Babies of the Côte d’Ivoire

  

  The majority of ethnographies focus on the culture of adults or verbal children, babies, if considered at all, are described in the context of their relationships to adults and older children. In 2004, Alma Gottlieb published a unique ethnography, The Afterlife is Where We Come From: The Culture of Infancy in West Africa based on Beng people…

  Aradia Wyndham

  February 19, 2015

  Babies, Birth, Pregnancy

  alma gottlieb, babysitters, babywearing, Beng, clinginess, cosleeping, Cote d'Ivoire, difficult baby, elimination communication, enema, ethnography, gbane, infant sleep, khanga, napping, reincarnation, stranger danger, toilet training, torso carry, working mom