ABSTRACT
This chapter sharpens the focus upon the provision for babies and infants; what ‘happened to them’, who looked after them, and how these things changed. There is clearly a close connection between these matters and the reorganisation of women’s work during the period. As women’s work varied in the late nineteenth century according to the demands of the household economy, so too did the provision for babies and infants. The dynamics which transformed household production—notably the decline of service and compulsory schooling—had a substantial bearing upon childcare. Yet the campaigns directed towards ‘motherhood’ partly followed a trajectory of their own, in response to the widening use of birth control. In general terms, ‘motherhood’ was redefined from procreation to care and vigilance, and women were increasingly defined as ‘mothers’ irrespective of class. More broadly, the remaking of motherhood was pivotal in the remaking of the family.
