The Birth Historian

The Birth Historian 📜 The Birth Historian
Birth & childbirth through history

NCT Teacher | BA & MA Ancient History

31/03/2026

You might think the only alternative to breastfeeding was formula, but history has a truly unbelievable option… and I know this much is TRUE. 🎶

Imagine a time before modern baby bottles and sterilizers, when survival meant pure ingenuity. Our ancestors, facing dire circumstances, sometimes turned to a direct source of nourishment for their infants: animal milk, straight from the animal.

While hard-to-clean terracotta feeding bottles were a risky endeavor (often impossible to fully sterilize), parents discovered that in extreme cases, babies thrived by being held directly under a goat. The infant would be encouraged to latch or have the milk gently squeezed into their mouths.

This isn’t just a quirky historical fact; it’s a profound glimpse into the unbelievable lengths humanity went to nurture life, connecting us to the raw, unfiltered realities of human history and ancient parenting. It’s a story so wild, you might not believe it, but I know this much is true.

What’s the most unbelievable historical parenting hack you’ve ever heard? Share your thoughts below!

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30/03/2026

👑Cleopatra didn’t just rule, she strategised with her womb.

In a world where men wrote the rules, she used what power she had: herself.

Her son with Julius Caesar, and three more with Mark Antony, were never just children, they were diplomacy in human form.

🏛️But when Rome turned on Antony, everything unraveled.

Cleopatra’s dream of a dynasty dissolved, and her surviving children were raised in Rome by Antony’s wife, Octavia.

Her legacy, quite literally, absorbed into the empire she tried to command.

It’s a story that asks:
What happens when a woman’s worth, and her future, are tied to her fertility?

And how much of that thinking still shapes the way we talk about pregnancy and motherhood today?

👑 For those who see birth and power as part of the same story.

29/03/2026

A rare blood type. 🩸

A difficult birth. 👶🏼

And a quiet act of care that may have saved a mother’s life, and a doctor’s conscience.

In the early 1980s, one woman lost a dangerous amount of blood after birth.
Her doctor said a transfusion wasn’t possible.
Years later, she discovered why.

During the Infected Blood Scandal, some postpartum women were unknowingly infected with HIV and hepatitis through transfusions.

This mother believes her doctor knew the risk and protected her under the guise of a rare blood type.

It was a time of fear, stigma, and silence.
But it was also a moment of compassion the kind that quietly changed maternity care forever.

Every Monday, I share memories like this. Stories from birth’s past that explain the care we receive today.

28/03/2026

“Oh my god… oh hells bloody bells” feels like the only reasonable response here.

I was reading about labour induction in the 1940s and came across a method involving something called Krause’s gum elastic bougie — which, unhelpfully, sounds far less alarming than it actually was.

It was used to try and encourage labour to begin. In some cases, 2 or 3 were used at the same time.

Which is the point I stopped, re-read the sentence… and then just sat with it for a moment.

Because it wasn’t even a quick fix.

Women would go through this and then wait for labour to establish — sometimes around 72 hours, sometimes much longer. In some cases, 5 to 10 days.

Days.

And in the textbook description, there’s very little mention of pain relief or anaesthetic support alongside it. Just the process… and the expectation that it would eventually work.

There’s something about that contrast that really lingers. The clinical tone on the page, and the very human experience behind it.

History does this sometimes — catches you off guard, and then quietly refuses to leave your mind.

If that made you pause too, you’re exactly who these stories are for. Stay with me for more moments where the past feels unexpectedly real.

And if you want to help more people find this side of history, a like, share, or follow genuinely helps.

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1940s childbirth, labour induction history, Krause bougie, gum elastic bougie, midwifery textbook history, British social history, women’s medical history, childbirth practices past, maternal care history, history of medicine, birth interventions history, social history women, human history storytelling, untold history, emotional history

27/03/2026

👑 Did you know Queen Victoria helped change the history of childbirth?

For centuries, pain in labour was seen as inevitable — even a punishment for the “sins of Eve.” Women were expected to suffer in silence, and seeking relief was often judged as weak or even sinful.

But Queen Victoria had nine pregnancies, and she openly disliked the experience of childbirth. When she chose to use chloroform for pain relief during her labours (most famously with the birth of Prince Leopold in 1853), it caused a sensation.

Because she was the Queen, her choice carried enormous influence. Suddenly, the use of pharmacological pain management in birth was not only acceptable — it was fashionable. Her public endorsement of chloroform helped shift attitudes, making pain relief more widely available and socially acceptable for birthing people everywhere.

✨ One queen’s decision helped change the course of birth history.

Would you have guessed that an English queen helped make pain relief in labour respectable?

👉 Save this for your next antenatal class, and share it with someone who thinks pain relief in birth is only a “modern invention.”

27/03/2026

The “lone woman in a field” is one of the most persistent myths in history. But if you’re looking for the truth, the answer is... probably never.

For thousands of years, birth was the ultimate communal event. It wasn’t a solitary struggle; it was a sacred, female-led space. Behind the closed doors of history, laboring women were surrounded by a powerful network of ‘wise women,’ skilled midwives, and experienced female kin.

These women weren’t just there for the birth—they were the guardians of ancient birthing wisdom, providing herbal remedies, emotional strength, and traditional techniques passed down through generations. This wasn’t just help; it was a sophisticated system of collective care that the history books often overlook.

If you’re a curious time-traveller who craves the intimate, human stories that standard history ignores, you belong here. I help you step inside the birthing rooms of the past to discover the profound strength and connection of the women who came before us.

Tap follow to join The Birth Historian and uncover the hidden truths of our shared human story.

What’s one “historical fact” about birth that has always sounded a bit suspicious to you? Let’s discuss

26/03/2026

🎬 “Let’s change the subject… because we don’t have time to unpack all of that” 😅

🗓️ The idea of a “due date” feels like a certainty in pregnancy—but it’s actually based on a mathematical formula from the 1830s.

Franz Naegele, a German obstetrician, devised his now-famous “rule” in 1830 to estimate when a baby might be born. It assumes a 28-day menstrual cycle and ovulation on day 14—but of course, human bodies are far more varied than that.

This formula doesn’t consider:
– menstrual cycles that are longer or shorter
– when implantation actually occurs
– how individual babies grow at different rates

Yet despite its limitations, Naegele’s Rule is still widely used today to schedule appointments, tests, and even interventions—sometimes creating pressure around a date that was only ever an estimate.

🔍 Only around 5% of babies are born on their estimated due date. History shows us that this method was never about precision—it was about having a general guide.

💭 Maybe it’s time to rethink how much power we give a date set by 19th-century maths?

📲 Share this reel with someone expecting a baby or interested in the history of birth. Let’s open up the conversation about where our pregnancy practices come from—and how they still shape care today.

25/03/2026

Ultrasound feels like certainty.

But in the 80s and 90s, that wasn’t the full story.

As routine scans became standard, some raised a quiet concern:
What if estimated information was being treated as exact?

Because ultrasound doesn’t measure weight — it estimates it. And those estimates come with a margin for error.

The fear?
That “big baby” predictions could lead to unnecessary inductions.

Fast forward to recent research, and that question still matters.

The Big Baby trial found that many babies predicted to be large were actually born average size — highlighting just how wide that margin can be.

This isn’t about rejecting ultrasound. It’s about understanding its limits.

Because birth decisions aren’t just clinical — they’re human.

If you’re drawn to the hidden stories behind modern birth practices, follow along. This is where history becomes personal.

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ultrasound pregnancy history, induction of labour, big baby trial, fetal weight estimation, routine scan debate, birth intervention, evidence based birth, childbirth history, maternal health

25/03/2026

Reading midwifery textbooks from the 1940s can feel surprisingly matter-of-fact.

One method of labour induction described involves the use of something called Krause’s gum elastic bougie — a device placed inside the uterus to try and encourage labour to begin. In some cases, 2 or 3 could be used at the same time.

The tone of the writing is calm. Clinical. Efficient.

And then you notice what happens next.

After the procedure, women would often be left waiting for labour to establish. This could take around 72 hours — sometimes longer. In some cases, it stretched to 5 to 10 days.

There is very little mention of pain relief or anaesthetic support alongside this process in the descriptions.

It’s that contrast that lingers.

The simplicity of the words on the page… and the reality of what they represent.

This is the kind of detail that changes how we understand the past — not through big events, but through small, human experiences that were once entirely ordinary.

If you find yourself drawn to these quieter, more personal histories, stay with me. There’s so much more to uncover.

If this added something to your understanding of the past, a like, share, or follow helps more of these stories find the right people.

⸝

1940s childbirth, labour induction history, Krause bougie, gum elastic bougie, midwifery textbook history, women’s history childbirth, maternal care history, childbirth practices past, history of medicine, birth interventions history, social history women, everyday history, human history storytelling, untold history, historical birth practices

23/03/2026

Birth history isn’t only found in textbooks — sometimes it lives across the road.

This is a piece of midwifery and maternity history from South East London, about community birth support, unmarried mothers in the 1960s and 70s, and women supporting women long before formal maternal services existed.

A hidden story of grassroots maternal care, adoption history in Britain, and the quiet activism that shaped motherhood for generations.

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