218, [6] : 29 cm

Delves into all manner of historical documents to unearth attitudes toward babies and the care given them from antiquity to the present

Includes bibliographical references (pages 222-223)

I. Expecting -- "Pleasing ailment" and rounded bellies -- Female sinners and the Virgin Mary -- Poetic diagnoses -- Ambroise Pare, surgeon and sexologist -- Garlic cloves and urine examiners -- Aversions and cravings -- An ocean of animalcules -- Fertilized by the wind -- Pregnancy in the Industrial Age -- II. Childbearing -- Cries and whispers -- The Medieval midwife -- A bath of crushed roses -- The Cesarean section -- The churching ceremony -- Pilgrimage and relics -- The deception of the rabbits -- Amulets and talismans -- Crying up a storm -- Processions and ceremonies -- The "good mother" or the witch -- The beginnings of obstetrics -- Seated, squatting, kneeling, lying down ... -- An attack on modesty -- The trail of the matrons -- School for midwives -- Hooks, forceps, and levers : the obstetric arsenal -- The medical delivery -- III. Caring -- From cooked mouse to antibiotics -- Medications from antiquity -- The healing saints -- Worms, enemy of the infant -- The first pediatric texts -- The "republic of children" -- Smoke and drink -- Magic springs and dust of saints -- Crystal teething rings or moles' paws -- Children lost and found -- Monsieur Vincent -- The first children's hospitals -- The invention of the incubator -- The "drops of milk" -- The giant steps of pediatrics -- IV. Feeding -- From nipple to the bottle -- The wet nurse market -- Ancient bottles -- Breast at the ready -- On milk "neither green, nor red, nor black" -- Papa's pap -- Horn baby bottles -- Nurse or dance -- The caresses of the nursling -- The great exodus of the babies -- Baskets of babies -- The code of the wet nurses -- Bottles of wood, leather, or tin -- Open beaks -- From witch to nanny -- Suckling implements -- Overstuffed and caricatured : the Parisian nurse -- Poisonous bottles, murderous nipples -- Hairy nurses -- The milk traffic -- From pap to little jar

V. Looking after -- The pioneering day nurseries -- Day care for the workers' children -- "A mass of babies" -- Squalid nurseries -- Sterilized nurseries -- VI. Washing and dressing -- Molded, powdered, and tied with string -- The messes of the Middle Ages -- The indispensable shell -- According to Jean -Jacques -- The virtues of filth -- The virtues of urine -- Soaps, shampoos, talcs, and creams -- In the English style or in the French style -- Underwear and dresses -- On the pot at set hours -- The revolution of disposable diapers -- VII. Carrying -- Baby sacks and babies on wheels -- From the handcart to the pushcart -- The harnessed baby -- Harness, pads, and forced walking -- Baby on the wall -- Tethers and turnstiles -- The victory of the first step -- The passion for the open air -- The baby carriage -- Wooden strollers and steel baby carriages -- VIII. Rocking -- Wicker cradles and hanging cradles -- Boxes, baskets, and barrels -- Mattresses of straw and sheets of gold -- "Gentle shakes" -- Iron bedsteads and lace -- Cradle litter -- Rolling, pitching, and vibrations -- The baby in exile -- IX. Understanding -- "The baby is a person" -- Medieval coaxing -- "Angels for paradise" -- The feelings of infants -- "The little king and his scepter with bells" -- Laws for babies -- The trial of the pacifier -- Hidden talents

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