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| SFReader Forums > SFReader > Ask The Expert > It's a girl! | Forum Quick Jump
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erazmus
Master
      
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4461
| Posted 4/20/2008 9:55 AM (GMT -4) |   | | | |
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 837
| Posted 4/20/2008 11:56 AM (GMT -4) | |
ScrewMoonshine said...
This makes a little question that has always bothered me particularly pertinent: Before there were diapers, how did people deal with the fact that infants will do their business anytime, anywhere?
Any info you medieval experts can give on that, or any other important matters of baby care, would be much appreciated.
Robert Orme
- I can give you a 2,000 year old refrence. 'And they wrapped the babe in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger for there was no room at the inn.'
- Most 'non-disposible' cultures even today either let the young children walk around naked or have the old, drafty, poop-chute in their britches. (watch where you walk!)
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BethS
Adept
Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 744
| Posted 4/20/2008 2:19 PM (GMT -4) | |
ScrewMoonshine said...
But surely it wasn't economic in those days to dispose of an article of clothing every time a baby relieves himself? That's what I'm asking. (I'm sure for many people in the world it still isn't economic, but I actually wonder about how those people do it too.) Robert Orme
They didn't dispose of it -- they washed it and reused it.
~Beth | | Back to Top | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4461
| Posted 4/20/2008 8:50 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 837
| Posted 4/21/2008 1:57 AM (GMT -4) | |
crystalwizard said...
Rob Mancebo said...
'And they wrapped the babe in swaddling clothes Swaddling Clothes aren't diapers. You swaddle an infant (and we still do this today, btw. Did this with all 4 of my kids.) with a snuggly wrapped blanket/strip of cloth. It cuddles the infant and gives him a feeling of security, keeps them from fussing. - Well, I gave this one a quick look-up on-line and the first thing I found was this:
From 'the history of diapers'/ ancient times:>>
> >
Parents of babies who lived during these times had to get creative and use what was available. Babies of ancient times may have used Milkweed leaf wraps, animal skins, and other natural resources. Babies were “wrapped in swaddling bands” in many European societies where strips of linen or wool were wrapped tightly around each limb and then crosswise around the body (see picture). >>
What was all the rage: >>
Seal Skin, rabbit skin, milkweed leaves, swaddling bands.
If you have a baby all wrapped up, why would you need diapers? (Speaking from the standpoint of stone/bronze/iron-age folks who don't have deoderant, and pee in the corner of the room anyway(standard practice in dirt-floor dwellings, no exaggeration.) You just wash the wrappings when soiled. Everyone smelled bad anyway.
As has been pointed out, clothing items would not be tossed, but washed. The making of cloth was generally done at home and was a tremendous expense until the 19th century. Clothing items were re-used untill they were trash.
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore www.geocities.com/robmancebo/
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crystalwizard
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4388
| Posted 4/21/2008 2:13 AM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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Keralen
Acolyte
Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 491
| Posted 4/21/2008 9:46 AM (GMT -4) | | So, does anyone want to go into the *other* problem with girls in pre-modern times? In my grandmother's day, she used "rags" and washed them. I could never figure out how they kept them in place.
And I always wondered about the brass bra crowd (fictional or real). PMS in armor must be murder. (I suppose literally...) | | Back to Top | | |
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 837
| Posted 4/21/2008 11:09 AM (GMT -4) | |
crystalwizard said...
Someone actually complied a history of diapers? Someone had way too much time on their hands!
I'm having the hardest time visualizing trying to wrap a baby in milkweed leaves *snicker*
- Better them than me! I'd probably grab the wrong leaves, like poisoned oak or stinging nettles . . . 
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore www.geocities.com/robmancebo/
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 837
| Posted 4/21/2008 11:15 AM (GMT -4) | |
Keralen said...
So, does anyone want to go into the *other* problem with girls in pre-modern times? In my grandmother's day, she used "rags" and washed them. I could never figure out how they kept them in place.
And I always wondered about the brass bra crowd (fictional or real). PMS in armor must be murder. (I suppose literally...)
- I expect it was the same. Just wrap them like a diaper or hold them in-place with another undergarment. It was actually good of your grandmother to even tell you about that since women didn't seem to discuss those things even to other women. A girl might only get a quick, vague, lecture about a 'female secret' by her mother and then she was on her own.
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore www.geocities.com/robmancebo/
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anna
Neophyte
Date Joined Apr 2007
Total Posts : 121
| Posted 4/21/2008 12:42 PM (GMT -4) | | My grandmother told me about having to wash out rags too. They made them from old bed sheets. And there was a company that made little elastic belts with metal clips to hold things in place. Sort of like a garter belt only not for hosiery....
While none of us often think of our ancestors in any "personal" matters, didn't you ever wonder where the euphemism "on the rag" came from?
;)
And count me in amongst those who used cloth diapers -- at least at home. Disposables were more convenient when out. | | Back to Top | | |
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MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1527
| Posted 4/21/2008 1:40 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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SilviaMG
Stablehand
Date Joined Feb 2008
Total Posts : 43
| Posted 4/24/2008 8:27 PM (GMT -4) | | "But surely it wasn't economic in those days to dispose of an article of clothing every time a baby relieves himself? That's what I'm asking.
(I'm sure for many people in the world it still isn't economic, but I actually wonder about how those people do it too.)"
Now you know how fun it was to be a housewife a couple of centuries ago. Doing the laundry was a huge chore. You would boil the undergarments and then put them to dry. There wasn't any fancy soap either. You made your own soap and your hand would get raw, red and cracked from all the hard work. I remember my great-grandmother would do the laundry and not let me do any washing because she wanted me to keep my "fine, soft hands ... like a princess." When she was a young girl in the early 1900s it was a source of pride to have a such hands. It was a social status mark and even with a washing machine she hand washed many garments and wouldn't let me help her. | | Back to Top | | |
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crystalwizard
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4388
| Posted 4/24/2008 8:44 PM (GMT -4) | | It's not really economical today to do that either. Cloth diapers are washed and used till they fall apart then used as rags. Or mended and continued to be used. Exactly the same way as you wash your shirts, pants, socks and everything else. And you don't need a washingmachine and dryer to wash clothing with either.
It might come as a huge surprise to many people reading this thread, but there are still plenty of people that wash their clothes by boiling them and hanging them up to dry. I've done that on quite a few occasions myself. I've also washed them in a river 'cause that's the only water source I had and hung them over bushes to dry. You do what you have to. | | Back to Top | | |
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SilviaMG
Stablehand
Date Joined Feb 2008
Total Posts : 43
| Posted 4/25/2008 12:57 PM (GMT -4) | | | Mmm...it depends on the culture. Aloe can be applied to relieve skin discomfort. I think everyone would have their little home-made remedy or buy it from the local apothecary/medicine person. But for many people I don't think they would have bothered with it. They would have taken bad skin as one of the things that came with the job, so to speak. :) | | Back to Top | | |
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MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1527
| Posted 4/25/2008 1:11 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1527
| Posted 4/25/2008 1:50 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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SilviaMG
Stablehand
Date Joined Feb 2008
Total Posts : 43
| Posted 4/25/2008 2:22 PM (GMT -4) | | | Animal fat mixed with ashes. I did a story on soap-making a long, long time ago. (The things you learn when you are a journalist) | | Back to Top | | |
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MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1527
| Posted 4/25/2008 2:24 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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