Child-Rearing
in
Western Europe
Daniel Son
Per. 6
Prompt:

2001 – Analyze how and why Western European
attitudes toward children and child-rearing
changed in the period from 1750 – 1900.
Traditional Agrarian Europe
Women usually married late (30) but bore many
children until death (45)
 About 50% had 6 or more children
 1 in 5 were likely to die young
 1 in 3 infants died in poorer areas
 Fatal diseases usually afflicted the stomach and chest
 Even the rich couldn’t save their children
 Adults were often indifferent, neglectful and abusive
towards their children

Nursing
Lower class mothers saved lives by breast-feeding
their young for a longer period than normal
 Milk provided necessary nutrients and immunities
 Upper-class mothers left wet-nurses to take care of
their children
 Wet-nurses were hired women who fed the babies
of the upper-class at the expense of nursing their
own children
 Many wet-nurses were accused of passing down bad
habits
 Some nurses were alleged to have killed the babies
of their clients in order to get more money from
other clients

Infanticide
Newborns, especially girls, were commonly left to
die when families became too large
 The Church denounced infanticide and sentenced
violators to death
 There were different methods of eliminating
babies: killing nurses, overlaying (“accidental”
suffocation), etc.
 Abortion was illegal, dangerous, and rare

Foundlings
Young mothers began to leave babies at church
doorsteps when they could not care for them
 Saint Vincent de Paul established a foundling home
(orphanage) because of the number of abandoned babies
 Foundling homes became popular across Europe and
they became a favorite charity for the rich
 Even at the best of the homes, infants suffered a 50%
mortality rate

Attitude Towards Children
Children of all socioeconomic classes were put “out
of sight and out of mind”
 Frequent child deaths greatly influenced the lack of
emotional bonding with parents and their children
 Doctors and clergymen encouraged emotional
detachment, but this led to disciplinary abuse
 “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” – Daniel Defoe
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau called for more love and
tenderness as well as more comfortable clothes
 Parents delighted in loving their children which
resulted in a greater optimism about human
potential

Analysis
How?
Mothers began to
breast-feed their
children longer
 Infanticide was
penalized and
foundling homes were
established
 Children became more
loved and formed
emotional bonds with
their parents

Why?
Less children were
born and more of them
survived
 The Church did not
approve of infanticide
and took pity on the
abandoned children
 Critics called for the
better treatment of
children and this also
caused a growth in
optimism about human
potential
