Victorian Maternity Essay -- Victorian Era

dainty MaternityWorking Class MaternityAccording to author capital of Montana Wojtczak, the average creaming kin wife was either pregnant or breast-feeding from wedding day to menopause, bearing approximately eight pregnancies, and ultimately genteelness approximately five children. This overflow of offspring was most likely link to the fact that birth control literature was illegal at the clock (Wojtczak). Wohls research of the difficulties in Victorian childbirth shows that a conclave of a nutrient deficient diet, and a substantial deficiency of two height and weight prevalent in urban working class Victorian women very likely contributed to an exceedingly high number of previous(p) births, and consequently, a high infant mortality rate. Also, working class women were judge to continue working throughout their entire pregnancy. Examples of this prejudice can be found in Victorian articles such as The Rearing and perplexity of Children Mother and Baby in Cassells Household Guide. The article states that, He who placed one woman in a position where labour and confinement are parts of her existence, gives her a stronger state of body than her more rarified sisters. To one inured to toil from childhood, ordinary work is merely exercise, and, as such, necessary to keep up her physical powers, though extra work should be, of course, avoided as much as possible. In reference to pregnancy remote of marriage, Wojtczak notes that it was notably common for a working class woman to aim pregnant out of wedlock, and due to the social stigma involved, and the possibility of unemployment, these women a great deal chose to conceal their pregnancy.Middle Class MaternityBy the mid ordinal century, Abrams states that Victorian middle cl... ...ther and Baby. Cassells Household Guide, New and Revised Edition. C.1880s no date. Victorian London. leeward Jackson, Ed. Vol. I. Pg. 10. 8 November 2004 .Wohl, Anthony S. Women and Victorian Public Health Difficulties in Childbirth. The Victorian vane Literature, History and Culture in the Age of Victoria. George P. Landlow. 29 June 2002. internal University at Singapore. 8 November 2004. .Wojtczak, Helena. Pregnancy and Childbirth. English Social History Women of Nineteenth-Century Hastings and St.Leonards. An Illustrated diachronic Miscellany. The Hastings Press. The Victorian Web Literature, History, and Culture in the age of Victoria. George P. Landlow. National University at Singapore. 8 November 2004