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Clothing
: Women's Clothing
: Fashions of Motherhood
by Linda Baumgarten
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 omen's
lives in the eighteenth century usually centered on their families; there was
little likelihood of a career outside the home. Women went into childbirth uncertain
not only of their own survival but of their child's, as well. It was not uncommon
for a woman to give birth seven or eight times during her life, with only five
or six children surviving to adulthood. Despite high mortality rates, women
expected to have large families. Esther Edwards Burr, mother of Aaron Burr, was daunted by her future prospects
after the birth of her second child. She wrote
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.)"
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| Welcome gift: Pins in cushion fastened children's clothing.
G1971-1314. |
Modern medical advances
in industrialized societies today have led to smaller family size. More children
escape once-fatal childhood diseases. Unborn children are no longer "little
strangers." Nevertheless, we should not overemphasize differences from
the past, for some human conditions have not changed. Parents of all eras have
loved their children,
nurtured them, given them playthings, dressed them in the prevailing fashion,
and hoped for their happy future. All parents would subscribe to the sentiment
on another eighteenth-century baby gift that reads, "Bright Be Thy Path Sweet
Babe!
Women in the eighteenth
century kept up an active schedule of work, social activities, and even exercise
during their pregnancies. Englishman Dr. William Buchan wrote a "how to" book
he titled Advice to Mothers in which he suggested that the best exercises--in
moderation--were those to which a woman was already accustomed. He recommended
"Slow, short walks in the
country, or gentle motion in an open carriage," particularly in the
later months, and advised against dancing and other "great bodily exertions."
Dr. Buchan observed that laboring countrywomen appeared to suffer
no ill effects by continuing their work throughout pregnancy, only requiring
a little "abatement" when their size made them "unwieldy."
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Historic Triangle