When researching large families in the mid to late 1500s where there is good information on baptism dates, you can get a succession of children with notionally the same father which I, at least, have merely recorded without really looking at the time difference between the given baptism dates. A fact that has escaped me until now is that there are real physical constraints preventing births being too close to each other. We all know about the gestation period being about 266 days or 38 weeks or about 9 months. I obviously thought there must be a period of time for the mother to recover. But when I asked my wife about it, I was surprised to learn (males just don't think about these things) that at least 6 months was required. Making enquiries on the Net I found that this is because whether the mother breast feeds the baby or not, the very act of giving birth means that there is a lactation period which acts as a contraceptive. For the first 6 months it is 98% effective, after 6 months the risk of getting pregnant gradually increases. This is important information for genealogists. Assuming that baptisms take place a few days after births, it means that from the birth of one baby, there is a lactation period of 6 months, conception, gestation of 9 months, and baptism - i.e. at least 1 year 3 months I recorded these baptisms for one father: (Children baptised, time between this child's baptism and the next baptism in years, months and days) Between A and B, 2y 5m 0d Between B and C, 3y 1m 23d Between C and D, 2y 0m 19d between D and E, 1y 4m 15d Between E and F, 3y 3m 3d Between F and G, 1y 2m 3d - query Between G and H, 1y 10m 1d Between H and I, 1y 3m 20d Between I and J, 2y 1m 8d Between J and K, 1y 7m 3d Between K and L, 3y 0m 24d Between L and M, 1y 2m 19d - query M is the final baptism There was a burial of someone with the family surname just before the baptism of B. Let's call him Z. Z may have died very young; there is no baptism record for him. However using the criteria above: 6 months lactation, 9 months gestation, 6 months lactation, 9 months gestation which amounts to 2y 6m, there is insufficient time between A and B for Z to have been born. Z therefore is probably an older member of the family or a child in a different line. Moreover, looking at the data above, it is doubtful that both G and M had the same father as the rest of the children. The question is have I made some false assumptions along the way, or have I not taken other factors into account? ~~ Keith Griffiths

Hi Keith, I don't think you can have such a set time frame between the birth of one child and the next. My older sister is thirteen months older than I am. My two youngest children have eleven months between them. I too believed the old wives tales that if you were feeding a child, you wouldn't become pregnant. Wrong....... Sometimes the hand of fate intervenes with us mere mortals:-)) Kind regards, Yvonne >> When researching large families in the mid to late 1500s where there is good information on baptism dates, you can get a succession of children with notionally the same father which I, at least, have merely recorded without really looking at the time difference between the given baptism dates. A fact that has escaped me until now is that there are real physical constraints preventing births being too close to each other. We all know about the gestation period being about 266 days or 38 weeks or about 9 months. I obviously thought there must be a period of time for the mother to recover. But when I asked my wife about it, I was surprised to learn (males just don't think about these things) that at least 6 months was required. Making enquiries on the Net I found that this is because whether the mother breast feeds the baby or not, the very act of giving birth means that there is a lactation period which acts as a contraceptive. For the first 6 months it is 98% effective, after 6 months the risk of getting pregnant gradually increases. This is important information for genealogists. Assuming that baptisms take place a few days after births, it means that from the birth of one baby, there is a lactation period of 6 months, conception, gestation of 9 months, and baptism - i.e. at least 1 year 3 months I recorded these baptisms for one father: (Children baptised, time between this child's baptism and the next baptism in years, months and days) Between A and B, 2y 5m 0d Between B and C, 3y 1m 23d Between C and D, 2y 0m 19d between D and E, 1y 4m 15d Between E and F, 3y 3m 3d Between F and G, 1y 2m 3d - query Between G and H, 1y 10m 1d Between H and I, 1y 3m 20d Between I and J, 2y 1m 8d Between J and K, 1y 7m 3d Between K and L, 3y 0m 24d Between L and M, 1y 2m 19d - query M is the final baptism There was a burial of someone with the family surname just before the baptism of B. Let's call him Z. Z may have died very young; there is no baptism record for him. However using the criteria above: 6 months lactation, 9 months gestation, 6 months lactation, 9 months gestation which amounts to 2y 6m, there is insufficient time between A and B for Z to have been born. Z therefore is probably an older member of the family or a child in a different line. Moreover, looking at the data above, it is doubtful that both G and M had the same father as the rest of the children. The question is have I made some false assumptions along the way, or have I not taken other factors into account? ~~ Keith Griffiths <<

Breast feeding does not have a contraceptive effect. That is an old wives tale. Some women become fertile - i.e. produce an egg a couple of weeks after giving birth and could concieve - now we are all told to wait six weeks before resuming maritals, but they probably werent then, and many wont have - in fact many women may not have been given the choice. Also, not all pregnancies last 38 weeks, sometimes babies were born early, and contrary to what you might think, babies born from about 7 1/2 months gestation often survived because the mother kept the baby strapped to the breast with blankets and so the baby was kept warm and well fed - they still do this is remote parts of the world today where baby intensive care isnt available. Pregnancy itself can enhance fertility - I know of women who have taken years to conceive, and have thought they were safe without contraception after the birth of the child and found themselves pregnant by the time they went for their six week post natal check. So your babies in your list probably are all the same family. Liz P > >When researching large families in the mid to late 1500s where there is >good >information on baptism dates, you can get a succession of children with >notionally the same father which I, at least, have merely recorded without >really looking at the time difference between the given baptism dates. > >A fact that has escaped me until now is that there are real physical >constraints preventing births being too close to each other. > >We all know about the gestation period being about 266 days or 38 weeks or >about 9 months. I obviously thought there must be a period of time for the >mother to recover. But when I asked my wife about it, I was surprised to >learn (males just don't think about these things) that at least 6 months >was >required. Making enquiries on the Net I found that this is because whether >the mother breast feeds the baby or not, the very act of giving birth means >that there is a lactation period which acts as a contraceptive. For the >first 6 months it is 98% effective, after 6 months the risk of getting >pregnant gradually increases. > >This is important information for genealogists. Assuming that baptisms take >place a few days after births, it means that from the birth of one baby, >there is a lactation period of 6 months, conception, gestation of 9 months, >and baptism - i.e. at least 1 year 3 months > >I recorded these baptisms for one father: > >(Children baptised, time between this child's baptism and the next baptism >in years, months and days) >Between A and B, 2y 5m 0d >Between B and C, 3y 1m 23d >Between C and D, 2y 0m 19d >between D and E, 1y 4m 15d >Between E and F, 3y 3m 3d >Between F and G, 1y 2m 3d - query >Between G and H, 1y 10m 1d >Between H and I, 1y 3m 20d >Between I and J, 2y 1m 8d >Between J and K, 1y 7m 3d >Between K and L, 3y 0m 24d >Between L and M, 1y 2m 19d - query >M is the final baptism > >There was a burial of someone with the family surname just before the >baptism of B. Let's call him Z. Z may have died very young; there is no >baptism record for him. However using the criteria above: 6 months >lactation, 9 months gestation, 6 months lactation, 9 months gestation which >amounts to 2y 6m, there is insufficient time between A and B for Z to have >been born. Z therefore is probably an older member of the family or a child >in a different line. > >Moreover, looking at the data above, it is doubtful that both G and M had >the same father as the rest of the children. > >The question is have I made some false assumptions along the way, or have I >not taken other factors into account? >~~ >Keith Griffiths > > >==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== >To UNSUBSCRIBE from list mode -- >Send the one word UNSUBSCRIBE to >[email protected] >