Exchanges: A Cambridge UP Podcast · New Books Network

Leah Astbury, "Making Babies in Early Modern England" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

·56 min·5 clips

Why did early modern people use 'generation' instead of 'reproduction' to describe making babies?

Uncertainty sits at the center. The guest describes pregnancy as an experience full of unknowns, then looks at how early modern families tried to make it feel a little more manageable. Dates were one tool. A family might write down an expected birth day, not because the prediction was dependable, but because writing it down gave the wait some shape. If the date was wrong, even by a month or a couple of weeks, that did not seem to cause the panic a modern listener might expect. The emotional work was in the trying. Families wanted a bit of certainty around a process that refused to offer much of it. The host then shifts from written traces to material culture. How did people prepare for pregnancy and childbirth through objects, gifts, and practical help? The examples stay grounded: borrowed clothing and linens, food, swaddling bands, and, in some cases, birthing chairs. These things made preparation visible. That visibility matters because men could prove good husbanding or fatherhood through tangible goods. Women's work was harder to pin down and easier to judge. Being a good wife and mother comes across as intangible, constantly measured, and measured unevenly. The episode keeps that pressure in view without turning the objects into cozy period detail. It uses them to ask who got credit, who got judged, and what kind of work counted. Near the end, masculinity stays open as a thread, with future work pointed toward husbandry as a masculine science or body of knowledge.

As heard by us

A careful look at early modern pregnancy, where due dates and domestic objects make uncertainty feel more manageable.

Leah Astbury's conversation on Making Babies in Early Modern England keeps its focus on a simple but uneasy problem: pregnancy could not be known in advance, so families tried to manage it with dates, routines, and a fair amount of emotional discipline.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A patient conversation about how early modern English families tried to make pregnancy and birth feel legible.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Exchanges: A Cambridge UP Podcast