[Margaret Pilkington]

I have a very vague idea...in the back of my cranium that it was traditional to keep babies in long clothes(even boy babies wore dresses for a long time) until they Christened......A new mother was churched at six weeks after the birth...until then the mother was not really allowed out for social events.....churching seen as a cleansing event to rid the mother of the stain of original sin.......it is just that I can't recall hearing of a ceremony specifically to allow the babe into short nightwear/clothes.
Ma is 84.......will ask her if she can throw any light on the subject.