Today we continue our series on motherhood throughout the
ages (last month we read about medieval motherhood), focusing this month on being a mother in the 18th century, particularly Colonial
America. I hope you enjoy learning about mothering in this period as much as I
did; as always, I am moved to see yet again that however much times have changed,
the heart of being a mother and raising children really does remain the same across
the years.
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| Mother and child, American 18th Century. File donated to Wikimedia Commons by the National Gallery of Art. See Gallery's Open Access Policy., CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81303921 |
A Full-Time Job
Even today, mothering can easily be a full-time job—or more!—but
in colonial America, motherhood typically was truly a woman’s life-work. With
families of ten or more children not only common but the norm (though several
children often would not survive till adulthood), a woman likely would spend
most of her life between the ages of twenty and forty-five either pregnant or
nursing. Thanks to breastfeeding’s natural contraceptive quality, children were
usually spaced a couple of years apart, but large families were both expected
and desired. After all, many hands were needed for building the new immigrant
society.
Then as now, it was easy for new mothers to feel overwhelmed
by the intense and sometimes all-consuming needs of their little ones. As a new
mommy myself, I sympathized with the words of Esther Edwards Burr, mother of Aaron
Burr, who wrote after the birth of her second child in 1756:
“When I had but one Child my hands were tied, but now I am tied hand and foot. (How I shall get along when I have got ½ dzn. or 10 children I cant devise.)”
“When I had but one Child my hands were tied, but now I am tied hand and foot. (How I shall get along when I have got ½ dzn. or 10 children I cant devise.)”
Bless her heart.
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| By Thomas Quine - 18th century gown, CC BY 2.0 Wikimedia Commons. 18th century styles were easily adaptable for motherhood. |
Motherhood Fashions
Since motherhood was such an integral part of most women’s
lives, clothing fashions of the 18th century were actually fairly
adaptable to pregnant and nursing mothers. While the stays that squeezed women
into fashionable narrow waists might seem—and were—quite unhealthy in
pregnancy, they were in fact designed with lacings to be let out at the sides as
an expectant mother’s waistline grew. Other women ditched the stays entirely in
late pregnancy, like the Duchess of Marlborough, who wrote in 1735 that during
the last three months of her pregnancy, she merely “wore a warm waistcoat
wrapped about me like a man’s and tied my petticoats on top of it.” Women’s
dresses also were made to be easily let out or adapted with different inserts
or aprons to transform them into maternity wear.
For breastfeeding mothers, the era’s low necklines, often
filled in with a light scarf or fichu, were already quite practical. At least
one set of stays from this period also survives with special flaps inserted,
doubtless to make nursing even easier.
Coral Teethers and Pudding Caps
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| Silver and Coral teether made by Paul Revere, late 18th century. By Daderot - Own work, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons |
Many ups and downs of the baby and toddler years haven’t changed
much over the centuries, from teething to toddler tumbles. For teething babies,
colonial mothers who could afford them might offer an elaborate teether made of
silver, complete with bells to jingle when the baby shook the toy, a rattle, and
a piece of polished coral for little gums to gnaw on. Coral was actually thought to be protective for teething children at the time, as 18th century parents actually considered teething quite dangerous! Once babies learned to
walk, mothers often tried to protect their heads from tumbles with a padded
cap, called a “pudding cap.” If you’ve ever heard someone affectionately refer
to a little person as a “puddin’ head,” the term comes from those caps!
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| "Pudding Cap" child's head protector, Swiss, 18th century. This file donated to Wikimedia Commons by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59659879 |
Boys and girls were dressed much alike for their early years,
in cloth diapers or “clouts” and layers of petticoats and gowns—and even
miniature stays/corsets—as infants, then graduating to dresses for both sexes as they
grew older. Boys were “breeched,” or transitioned from gowns to breeches, somewhere
between the ages of four and seven.
Though times of boys in dresses, pregnant mothers in stays,
and infants teething on coral may seem far from us, mothers’ love and concern
and care for their children has not. What stands out most to you about these mothers
of colonial times? What surprises you, or seems familiar? Please comment and
share!
Kiersti Giron holds a life-long passion for history
and historical fiction. She loves to write stories that show the intersection
of past and present, explore relationships that bridge cultural divides, and
probe the healing Jesus can bring out of brokenness. Kiersti has been published
in several magazine and won the 2013 and 2018 Genesis Awards – Historical for
her novels Beneath a Turquoise Sky and Fire in My Heart. An English teacher
and member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kiersti loves learning and
growing with other writers penning God's story into theirs, as well as blogging
at www.kierstigiron.com.
She lives in California with her husband, Anthony, their two kitties, and their
new baby boy.
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