Postpartum period
Videos
The postpartum period begins after childbirth and is typically considered to last for six to eight weeks. There are three distinct phases of the postnatal period; the acute phase, lasting for six to t
Mother with newborn baby
Infant placed directly on the chest following childbirth
Infant nursing shortly after birth
Woman nurses twins six days after birth. The linea nigra is still visible.
Lying-in
Videos
Lying-in is the term given to the European forms of postpartum confinement, the traditional practice involving long bed rest before and after giving birth. The term and the practice it describes in th
Postpartum period
…100 days. This postnatal recuperation can include "traditional health beliefs, taboos, rituals, and proscriptions." The practice used to be known as "lying-in", which, as the term suggests, centres around bed rest. (Maternity hospitals used to use this phrase, as in the General Lying-in Hospital.) Postpartum…
A mother in Florence lying-in, from a painted desco da parto or birth tray of c. 1410. As women tend to the child, expensively-dressed female guests are already arriving.
Richard Dagley's illustration "Taking caudle" of Thomas Gaspey's poem. The new mother reclines in a four-poster bed, recouping her energy. A member of the household sits at the foot of the bed, entertaining a visitor, who keeps her bonnet on; both of them are drinking caudle. A maidservant shows the baby to the visitor, while a dog and cat look on.