Tag: Birth
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Portugal’s SNS Grávida Helpline | Baby News
Portugal is a country in southwestern Europe, home to ten and a half million people though population is shrinking due to low immigration and low birth rate, around 1.38 children per woman. Based on what I have read, Portugal is a nice place to start a family because there is a nationalized health service, Serviço…
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Hospital Nurseries & Newborn IDs in 1930s | Baby History Shorts
In the 1930s, hospital births were becoming more common in the US, for example, in Chicago in 1930, 55% of births took place in a hospital. It’s likely more would have chosen a hospital birth if they could afford it, or weren’t prevented due to segregation. For efficiency, hospitals used nurseries to care for newborns…
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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 Weirdest Cry For Help Imaginable: Vagitus Uterinus
A baby’s first cry has always been a symbol of celebration and an assurance of good health, there’s a word for it: vagitus. Some babies may take a bit longer than others to start crying after birth but what about those who can’t even wait to get out of the uterus to start crying? This…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Birth and Carriers in Indonesia
Learn how the peoples of Indonesia incorporate their infant carriers into their postpartum traditions.
The Baby Historian 