The history of babies is interesting for the wild swings of fashion from severe to indulgent care, and also for the way babies' lives reflect adults' fashions and politics.
Major differences in baby care often lie less between different centuries than between different classes. Rich Edwardian babies (1901-1910), for example, wearing layers of goffered, embroidered, lacy clothes, wheeled in a grand pram in the park by their nanny, displayed their father's wealth and status, just as their overdressed mothers did.
Christina Hardyment reviewed baby care manuals from Dr Locke's in the 1700s to Dr Spock's in the 1980s. Mothers were seen as naturally confident experts until towards the 1900s, when the professional experts (mainly men) claimed to turn baby care into a science for parents to study.
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