Having a baby?? Don't forget your...um.. .jam jar?

[Lilym]

I had a home birth in 1965 but was not required to provide a jam jar. The placenta was wrapped in newspaper and something else - may have been brown paper - taken downstairs and burned.
Lilym

[Viktoria]

Yep, that`s how it was in 1957  for home births.Id say a 2lb jam jar was not big enough for a placenta. They were usually burnt but in difficult cases they were taken to a hospital and examined to be sure all had  been parted with as otherwise heavy bleeding  would occur, possibly leading to a fatal haemorrhage.
 My midwife left one on a bus in her student days!
 I can`t remember what the large jam jar was used for though. Dettol---OUCH---I remember that, talk about sting!
You collected a  sealed  box with everything in it sterile, to prevent infection and the dreaded puerperal fever which often followed confinements where everything was not really clean, amateur midwives with unclean hands and aprons etc.A great killer in days gone by.
Fathers were not allowed in and I for one was very grateful, I`d have been looking after him!!!
                                                                                                                   Viktoria.

[tillypeg]

I stayed in the maternity hospital for a fortnight after giving birth to my twin girls in 1989 and was given a bottle of Guinness every day with my lunch or tea - can't remember which meal but certainly not both! hic...

[tedscout]

I had a home birth in 1965 but was not required to provide a jam jar. The placenta was wrapped in newspaper and something else - may have been brown paper - taken downstairs and burned.
Lilym

Eeewww imagine the smell. What a way to tell the neighbours the baby was born 

[Suzy W]

In NZ ladies can still take it home and plant under a tree.  (A Maori custom).  I was offered this, but not my cup of tea, all I could see is some cat digging it up

[Suzy W]

Just wondering if the jar was used for expressed milk?
Back in the 1960's when I was born the mother was in hospital for at least two weeks, unlike today shipped out within 1-2 days.
So the extra milk would have to be stored somewhere.

Suzy W

[jc26red]

2 lbs worth of breast milk! 

That would be one hungery baby!

Seriously though, not every home had a fridge then, we did but I know my grandmother and several friends didn't so doubtful. It wouldn't be advisable to keep expressed milk refridgerated more than overnight anyway.

[Cell]

Hi,
Jam Jar is a term I haven't heard  for many years for a bottle that stores warm water. This term died out many decades ago. My grandmother used to use the term all  of the time  for a glass jar to house warm water , which brings back very  fond memories
Just a thought.

  It's  very intriguing, the mind  totally boggles -hopefully someone will come across your post who had the the same request for a 2lb jam jar when they gave birth and can enlighten us all
Kind regards

[Viktoria]

Just thinking--- I wonder if the jar was used as a receptacle for forceps and they would be sterilized by being immersed in boiling water or a solution such as Dettol.
However I can imagine the jar cracking in the icy cold conditions of most bedrooms when we had ice INSIDE the windows in winter.                                                                                                              It remains a mystery.
                                                Viktoria