Premature birth in 1876

[Diane Christine Hayes]

My maternal grandmother was born at home from natural childbirth in 1900 at only 6 months of age and weighing only 2 pounds. The doctor who came for the birth refused to make out a birth certificate because he insisted the newborn would not live. (Newborns lose between 7- 10% of their weight following birth when breastfed, so she had to weigh as little as 1.8 lbs. directly following birth).
My maternal great-grandmother kept her in a shoe box on a shelf, on the inside of an oven door, with the door propped open and the oven on, obviously on a lower, constant temperature which was continually checked. This set-up in the home served as what would later be known as an incubator used in hospital nurseries. My maternal grandmother was baptized in a church rectory the next day, which might have been hours following her birth (a common practice for newborn infants at great risk of death). My maternal grandmother lived, went to school (was very smart, wise, and intuitive, as well as pious), worked (hard), and had children, of whom my mother survived from birth, and raised a family. She was a homemaker, seamstress, wife, mother, and wonderful grandmother. And since her passing years ago, she has two great-grandchildren, my sons who are in their early thirties. My maternal grandmother had to go to court to have a birth certificate made for employment and social security purposes. They had to use her baptismal certificate and the testimony of multiple witnesses who were around near the time of her birth to be able to issue a birth certificate from the court. The court proceedings would have been a great testimony to the viability of a child at 6 months of age without extensive medical intervention, (only a mother's love and nurturing care). I came across someone else through the years that stated they had a relative born premature during that time period and heard they were also kept on a shelf on the inside of an oven door, to be kept warm. So I suspect some of the same strategy was used for premature births in 1876.

[Maiden Stone]

A 2xGGM had premature twins who died within a few hours of birth 1860s. Poor working-class family. No medical attention.
I've read (probably on RC) about Scottish new-borns being put in the drawer above the "porridge drawer" to keep them warm.

[Diane Christine Hayes]

In my earlier post, I meant to say my maternal grandmother was born in the early 1900's at exactly 6 months old and weighing 2 lbs. (would have gone to approximately 1.8 lbs. in psychological weight loss following birth). My maternal grandmother was born in Rochester, New York on March 21st, 1901. There was nothing a physician or hospital could do for a premature newborn in those times. As I have stated, the physician who came to the home for the birth refused to make out a birth certificate because he insisted my maternal grandmother, the premature newborn, would not live. My grandmother had to go to court at a later age to get a birth certificate, and witnesses to her birth and time of her birth were called to testify, and her baptismal certificate was also used. Maiden Stone-you bring up an important point. I think the occurrence of premature twins would have greatly reduced the chances of each twin's survival, because they both would have had a lower birth rate to begin with, and twins which are typically born premature to some degree to begin with, tend to lag behind in development. The other important thing to consider is-the statistics and records of premature births in the 1870's to early 1900's, (and other times as well) are not completely accurate when you factor in physicians and midwifes who refused to make out a birth certificate for an infant or infants who they didn't think would survive.

[Maiden Stone]

Re my reply #10. The twins were born in Lancashire, England during the "Lancashire Cotton Famine" during the American Civil War. An estimated quarter to a third of working -class populations of the affected towns & cities were receiving poor relief. It was one of the worst years to be born.
The twins had names, birth certificates and death certificates. All that was required for certification was that a baby was born alive. They were born in the evening; one died that evening, her sister survived until after midnight. Their grandmother, in whose house they were born, registered their births. A woman-friend or neighbour who had been present registered their deaths.
The family would have been struggling to afford rent, food and fuel so had no money to waste on a doctor for babies who were going to die anyway. The grandmother had the occupation of nurse on a previous census.

[Ayashi]

Thanks.

Perhaps they did put him next to the oven. I've always had mental images of poor Mary Ann cradling this tiny baby waiting for him to go. Horrifying.

[clairec666]

Since we've had access to the GRO birth index, I've found lots more children who died young who I didn't previously know about.

So far, I've found 30 who were registered without a christian name, and their death was registered in the same quarter as their births. I haven't bought all their birth/death certificates, but I suspect they died very soon after birth. (Although I've seen unnamed month-old babies on the census, so it's possible they lived a little longer.)

To answer your original question Ayashi, I don't know how early a baby could survive in those days, but I do know it's very different to how things are today.

[Ayashi]

I found a parallel line where they lost an incredible number of children- from the GRO I think they might have been several sets of twins and a set of triplets!

Don't worry too much about the original question- there's been a case of thread necromancy here. The starting post was six and a half years ago.

[whiteout7]

Funny, we put our new born lambs in the oven to keep them warm in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

My premature baby born 5 weeks early meant that I got steroid to help his lungs mature last year. So even just 5 weeks early carries some risk to breathing.

Also at less than 35 weeks the babies heart is one chamber developing into 2 chambers. So those earlier premature babies would have heart mumurs/holes.

[bykerlads]

The aunt of my OH who was a midwife from 1940 through to the 1970s, used to say that in the past premmie babies were kept permanemtly swaddled up against mother or anyone else available's bare body, to maintain a favourable temperature.
Also, a friend who had a very premature baby in the early 1980s was told that the milk produced by the mother of a premature baby was different and more suited to the baby than that produced by the mum of a full term baby.
I'd suppose that these facts were known or guessed at even in the 1800s.