Bundle of Joy

The custom of swaddling babies is a very old one. All kind of benefits are attributed to swaddling: babies cry less, they grow with nice straight limbs, etc. And it sure makes a nice, easy to carry, package.

This illustration, from 15th century England’s manuscript, is one of the oldest that remain.

These Tudor ladies, the twins Cholmondley sisters, married on the same day and gave birth on the same day. They appear stultified by the fact in this portrait, dating from 1610.

In the new world, the native Americans, like this Chippeway mother, carried their babies in much the same fashion.

This sweet doll in a glass cabinet is from 19th century Sicily.



In the Netherlands, where the custom of swaddling felt in disuse at the beginning of the 19th century, it became ‘in’ again the last fifteen years or so, along with the rest of the western world. Nowadays, a brisk trade in swaddle blankets, muslin's and such, can be found on the net. Also numerous sites give detailed information on how to convert your baby in a true bundle of joy.



The luckiest though, is this little guy in eastern Turkey. His mum knows how to combine century old traditions with the modern commodity of in-crib plumbing. Hurray!!


Photographer, alas, unknown.