GIVING BIRTH IN NEW FRANCE
Under the French regime, raising a large family ensured survival. In a society that was essentially rural in nature, progeny provided the labour force needed to complete the thousand and one daily chores. As a result, married women of that time spent half of their married lives pregnant. A woman who married at 25 – the average age for marriage in New France – gave birth every second year, until she reached her early forties. During that period, she would give birth to eight or nine children. As a result of difficult living conditions, a lack of hygiene and rudimentary medical knowledge, 40% of these children did not live to the age of 15. The picture of the 17th and 18th centuries, when it came to childbirth, was not glorious, particularly since the infant mortality rate has to be considered along with the high maternal mortality rate. As a result of the physical wear and tear of repeated pregnancies and a return to hard labour shortly after giving birth, two percent of mothers died while giving birth or few days following that.Under the French regime, children were generally conceived in the spring, at the same time as the crops were sown. During her pregnancy, the woman continued to perform her many chores, even during the final months of the pregnancy, in order to survive. Moreover, people paid little heed to her condition, with the exception of the woman around her who would give her advice about what food to eat or offer her protective medals. This lack of rest resulted in a large number of miscarriages, which were referred to at that time as “injuries”.
At the end of nine full moons – which is how people at that time referred to the term of gestation – the woman would give birth. When her labour started, the women in the house would gather around the pregnant woman in the common room along with a few neighbours and the midwife. Out of a sense of modesty, the men would wait outside. Everything was set into motion to prepare for the delivery. Some would heat the water needed to clean the mother and the child and close the curtains; others would arrange a bed of straw in front of the hearth where the mother would rest between contractions and they would light a fire. Through the darkness and heat, they intended to reproduce the environment which the child was leaving. Finally, when the infant was pushed out of the mother’s body, a chair was used. In fact, women gave birth in a sitting position until the 19th century.
After giving the baby a bath – which was generally rather summary – and examining him, the midwife would wrap the infant in very tight cloths. His arms would be placed alongside his body, so that he could not move. This was done, among other things, because people at that time believed that swaddling would shape the child’s body and ensure that his adult body was well formed. The swaddled baby was then placed near the mother and both would regain their strength. This period of rest was, however, very brief. After a few days, three at the very most, the baby would be taken to the church to be baptised, the mother would return to work and the cycle would start over again.
In the months following the delivery, the physical care given to the child was most unlike current practices. To learn more about personal hygiene in the daily lives of the settlers in New France, we invite you to return on October 5, 2004.
Source:
LACHANCE, André. Vivre, aimer et mourir en Nouvelle-France. La vie quotidienne aux 17e et 18e siècles, Montréal, Éditions Libre Expression, 2000, 222 p.