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[–]MarkTwainiac 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Yes, this is very regressive.

Also it's made me wonder: Are newborn babies now being wrapped in blankets that are entirely blue or pink depending on the children's sex?

In the US and many other countries, it's been the custom since the 1950s - when hospital births became commonplace - to wrap or swaddle newborns of both sexes in unisex flannel "receiving blankets" with blue and pink stripes: https://www.popsugar.com/family/Pink-Blue-Striped-Hospital-Baby-Blankets-18286453

https://doyouremember.com/89521/history-worlds-common-baby-blanket

Before that, my understanding is that receiving blankets were usually just plain white, yellow or whatever was the customary colors and patterns of soft cloth in a particular culture. Baby pics of my parents, born in the mid-1920s, show them in white baby blankets and white clothing. Both also had long hair and wore "dresses" until school age, when my dad had his hair cut to a chin length bob and "graduated" to wearing short trousers that stopped just above the knee.

[–]rad-sage-fem 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It's hospital dependant. (Here in Canada, anyway!) Some hospitals still have the blankets from that article, and some have pink and blue ones - it's the same blanket but reversable, one side pink, one side blue. There's a plain white blanket I've seen a lot too... Almost every hospital I've been at has hats knitted in the community and people always try to make sure the baby gets the right colour, it drives me crazy!

[–]MarkTwainiac 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Wow. You have any idea when this practice started? When I had kids in the US in the early 90s, all this pink and blue sex segregation of baby and children's clothing, bedding and toys was not so pronounced. I imagine it existed to some extent, and that in some circles it was embraced and rigidly enforced - but it certainly wasn't the universal norm.

[–]rad-sage-fem 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's a good question, I'm not sure. It's been a thing since I've been a student and then a midwife, so the last 7 years, but I don't know about before that. I remember being so annoyed (and actually quite surprised) as a student when my preceptors kept insisting on picking the pink and blue hats. Now I'm resigned and bitter hahaha