53. Work in the Mill.
When I have been pregnant I have suffered very much with bad legs. You see, I had to go to work in the mill, and so I had not the chance to give them the rest they needed. I think it is a great hardship for a woman to have to do so. However, when I have got over the confinement, I seemed to pull up after my first baby. But after my second one was born I was in bed nearly a month, and my husband (who, thank God, is one of the best) had to lift me in and out of bed, and put my legs on a level with my body while he made my bed. After the third I was something the same, only not quite so bad.
My babies have been very strong and healthy, though they have not always had the best of health since. But I have tried to do my duty to them as well as I could.
I might say that I think ignorance has more to do with suffering than anything, and I think if our Guilds would get the doctors to lecture to them on this subject it might help our members, and also other people, to take more care of themselves.
Three children.
54. In Favour of Breast-Feeding.
I have not had children as fast as some, for which I am thankful, not because I do not love them, but because if I had more I do not think I could have done my duty to them under the circumstances. I may say I have had a very good partner in life, and that has made it better for me. But seeing my husband is only a weaver, I have not had a lot of money to go on with. I have been compelled to go out to work. I have worked when I have been pregnant, but I have always given up when I have been about six months, and then I have done all my own work up to the very last, and I can tell you it has been very hard work. Then when it has been over I have had to begin to do my housework at the fortnight end, and I think that is too soon, but what can women do when they have not the means to do it with? Of course, I am not half so bad as some. I have never carried a baby out to nurse. I have always managed to stop at home one year and get them walking. But I think if we as women had our right, we should not have to work at all during pregnancy, because I think that both the mother and baby would be better. I never knew so many bottle-fed babies as there is now. Nearly all the young married women cannot give breast. How is it? Now, I think because they work so hard before, do not get enough rest, therefore have no milk. And, then, some will not begin with their own milk, because they know they have to go out to work. Hence the baby has to suffer. Mother’s milk is the best food for baby. I heard a young mother with her first baby say the other day her husband’s mother had told her not to bother with her breasts, it made a young woman look old giving her baby breast. What a mother! I think it is one of the grandest sights to see. So you see we have a lot of educating to do yet when we hear such things as these.
Wages 16s. to 30s.; four children.
55. Mixed Experiences.
I have three girls. Over my first child the only ailments I had were sickness during the first five months, and at childbirth I had a very good time. And over the second a much similar time, with the exception of colds in my face. Over my third baby I had a much harder time, as during the whole of the nine months I was unable to do anything, as I had such terrible pains in my back and legs—could not bear to be on my feet for more than a few minutes at a time.