Babies and more

BABIES and MORE...  What country do babies like best?   (Lapland)

Nathaniel Joseph Almon and Dad Barry

The Christmas decorations are down at the Homestead and I'm reflecting on Baby Jesus, newborns, large frontier families and my new grandson, Nathaniel Joseph, born December 16, 2013.

Twenty-Nine years ago, when we had our youngest child Kathleen as a newborn, I was teaching a midwife named Martha and her husband about natural family planning (NFP.)  My husband Brian and I learned NFP after the birth of our first son.    Knowledge of the body is a very healthy and fun way to manage human fertility. Men can learn when to become a father and how to cooperate with the woman to avoid a pregnancy too.  I  enjoyed it so much that I became a NFP teacher. I expect that a frontier couple with the knowledge they had of the fertility of the land (fall, winter, spring and summer) and the estrous cycle of farm animals, they new about their couple fertility without the use of a fancy NFP chart.

Martha and her husband wanted to conceive a baby, but her luteal phase (day after Peak Day until day before next menstrual period) was too short at seven days for a healthy conception.  She began to drink a special tea and lo and behold her luteal phase lengthened to ten days and they successfully achieved a pregnancy.  

Natural Family Planning Chart

During this time Martha taught me how to set the clock for Kathleen to begin sleeping through the night. The time we usually went to bed to sleep end of day around 9:30 p.m. was to be Kathleen's last feeding in total darkness.  The breastfeeding time before the last was to be in a dark room with only a closet light on or hall light.  The breastfeeding time before that was to be in natural daylight.  So, when Kathleen's weight got stable at seven days old at around 10 lbs., we began the process.  If Kathleen woke up after her last feeding, we were to change her diaper, offer her sips of water, burp and kiss her and put her down.  If she cried, we could of course comfort her - but no nursing.  The first night was a bit rough, but the second night, she slept through until 4:30 a.m.  I was surprised and rested and got up to nurse her. The third night was great, as she didn't wake up until 6:30 a.m. So at eleven days old, Kathleen started sleeping through the night.  Life is good!  The bedtime rhythm became pretty regular after that for all the kids with story, prayers, singing, kisses and good night.



With no indoor plumbing or electricity, frontier families retired around sunset.  Candles were hard to make and only used when absolutely necessary. The fireplace light was pretty dim. I imagine that large frontier families had a bedtime experience of also using a chamber pot and bed warmer at bedtime. When the bed warmer was full of hot coals, Dad or Mom would swish quickly over the bed sheets and kids would jump under them. The kids might also warm their pajamas with a hot sad iron before putting pajamas on.  Hot water bottle or hot brick could be placed under covers to keep the chill away for a little while too.



 Vintage Bed Warmer and Chamber Pot

Then of course, five or more kids in one bed under a buffalo skin and homemade quilts accounted for great body heat.      
                                                             




 

L.E. Clark has donated his wife Ann's quilting supplies and some material to the Homestead over the holidays.  Thank you very much!