Woman's firtility 1780 - 1790

[Jennaya]

I know older women who talk about "change of life babies" a burst of fertility before menopause

[kathb]

Hi, Bykerelads, you are correct re: syphyllis. It featured on one of the WDYTYA  programmes.

[bykerlads]

I've often wondered what folk's attitude towards all the many children they produced in the 17/1800's was.
Did they welcome the pregnancies?( potentially fatal to mothers + the arrival of more mouths to feed) Were the babies accepted or resented?
Did they actually know what was causing them to become pregnant and therefore what to do to stop it happening? ( no contraception available but not having sex surely was an option)
It's significant that after WW1, in my families at least, family size fell suddenly from 10 or more children to just 1 or 2. As soon as the knowledge and means to avoid pregnancy was available, people were very keen to stop having children.

[Mike in Cumbria]

I can't answer all of those but they certainly knew what was causing babies!