Lying-in

A mother in Florence lying-in, from a painted desco da parto or birth tray of c. 1410. As women tend to the child, expensively dressed female guests are already arriving.

Lying-in is an old childbirth practice involving a woman having a period of bed rest in the postpartum period after giving birth. Though the term is now usually defined as "the condition of a woman in the process of giving birth," it previously referred to a period of bed rest required even if there were no medical complications.^[1]

A 1932 publication refers to lying-in as ranging from 2 weeks to 2 months.^[2] It also does not suggest "Getting Up" (getting out of bed post-birth) for at least nine days and ideally for 20 days.^[2][3]

When lying-in was a more common term, it was used in the names of several hospitals, for example the General Lying-In Hospital in London.

Women received congratulatory visits from friends and family during the period, and among many traditional customs around the world the desco da parto was a special form of painted tray presented to the mother in Renaissance Florence. The many scenes after childbirth painted on these show female visitors bringing presents, received by the mother in bed, while other women tend to the baby. No fixed term of lying-in is recommended in Renaissance manuals on family life (unlike in some other cultures), but it appears from documentary records that the mother was rarely present at the baptism, in Italian cities usually held within a week of the birth at the local parish church, normally a few minutes walk from any house.^[4]

In art, the immensely popular scene of the Birth of Jesus technically shows the Virgin Mary, who reclines on a couch in most medieval examples, lying-in, but in famously un-ideal conditions. More ideal images of lying-in in well-off households are represented in the subjects, also popular, of the Birth of the Virgin and Birth of John the Baptist. These are generally given contemporary settings, and differ little from other images that are purely secular, especially those on desci da parto.

References

1. The Prospective Mother: A Handbook for Women During Pregnancy, J. Morris Slemons
2. Lying in by Jan Nusche quoting The Bride's Book — A Perpetual Guide for the Montreal Bride, published in 1932
3. Jenstad, Janelle Day, Lying-in Like a Countess: The Lisle Letters, the Cecil Family, and A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies - Volume 34, Number 2, Spring 2004, pp. 373-403
4. "Renaissance childbirth", Victoria & Albert Museum