Lying-in

Lying-in is the term given to the European[citation needed] forms of postpartum confinement, the traditional practice involving long bed rest before[1] and after giving birth.

Until the 1970s, standard NHS postpartum care involved 10 days in hospital, with the newborns taken to the nursery overnight, ensuring the mothers were well rested by the time they returned home.

Women received congratulatory visits from friends and family during the period; 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.

No fixed term of lying-in is recommended in Renaissance manuals on family life (unlike in some other cultures), but documentary records suggest that the mother was rarely present at the baptism, which in Italian cities was usually held within a week of the birth at the local parish church, normally a few minutes' walk from any house.

[6] 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 non-ideal conditions.

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.
Richard Dagley 's illustration "Taking caudle" of Thomas Gaspey 's poem. The new mother reclines in a four-poster bed, recouping her energy. A member of the household sits at the foot of the bed, entertaining a visitor, who keeps her bonnet on; both of them are drinking caudle. A maidservant shows the baby to the visitor, while a dog and cat look on.