Story: Pregnancy, birth and baby care

Until the 1870s birth rates were high. In 1878 there were almost nine births per married woman on average. The top photograph is of Alice and Charles Johnston and their nine children in about 1880. Birth rates then began to fall. They reached a low point in the 1930s during the economic depression, when they fell below the population replacement level (2.1 births per couple). The bottom photograph shows the Newland family in 1923.