women's confinement period during the 1800's

[tleve]

ok so i am looking for anyone who would know how long < and when the confinement period would start for a women who is expecting during the 1800's. i was told by a follow re-enactor that it would start when she no longer fit into her everyday clothing and would end a year after birth . is this true?

reason for the question is that i am 7 1/2 mos. pregnant and we are having our first encampment in Sept ( he will be born at the end of March ) and would love to know when i would have been able to return to public life in the 1800's.

i tried looking on the net but i can't find anything .

thanks
trish

[NoahBriggs]

It may seem absurd at first but I recommend you go to Liz Clarks Sewing Academy Forum (http://thesewingacademy.org/index.php)and post your question in "19th Century Life." You will learn more about maternity dress, gestation/nursing stays, pregnancy and childbirth in the era than you ever cared to know.

[tleve]

thank you i will post there

[ElizabethClark]

Trish, I'd also ask that particular person for their sources... life didn't stop with childbirth, and I've found no information to indicate that a woman removed herself from life for over a year with each child. Just the logistics of family life point out how absurd that would be.

[tleve]

it came from a guy so .... who knows. i know that it would be hard to go out in public if your clothes don't fit anymore with the bump getting bigger, but i thought that it would have started when your clothes no longer fit and end when you were well enough or small enough to fit back into her clothes. i though a whole year plus 5 or so months was a little long , but ( shrug) . I was hoping to find something that was published that would state when it would start and end so i could keep it in my re-enacting stuff . i know that once i have a baby with me at events , people are going to start asking these type of questions , plus i would love to know for my own impression ( i do mid-wife / apothecary , it is really hard to explain and still stay on topic here ) .
thanks

[ElizabethClark]

Here's one set of stats to read up on: women on the Oregon and California trails often had as little as a 12 hour layover before being 'back in public', baby and all.

What I've found from my own reading in diaries, letters, advice manuals, etc, is that women didn't really have a long "confinement"--it commenced when she got so unweildy and tired in the last days of pregnancy that she preferred to stay home, through the delivery, and until she felt well enough to leave her home after the baby arrived, which, depending on the woman and the baby, could be as early as the emigrant woman who moved along with the wagon train (riding in the wagon bed, most likely) within 12 hours of giving birth, to a woman who felt back to normal in a week, to someone who lingered in bed with a private nurse to take care of things for a few weeks or months. But skipping a year and a half of life didn't happen for the vast, vast majority of people.

Don't forget that dresses can be remade, and new dresses sewn. Though maternity styles are rare to find extant, they do exist. They show a variety of modifications to totally normal dress styles, to accomodate a larger, higher waist and expanded bust. In very, very late pregnancy, wrapper-style dresses with loose fronts are quite comfortable.

And honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about carrying documentation on your person for the 'out and about-ness' of women with infants. People will be more interested in the details of baby life in the period, and are not likely to quiz you on being a hermit or not.

[tleve]

well thank you for the info. :D

[chatrbug]

I was reading a diary earlier that the woman was writing about a month after she had the baby they were out and about.