The odds that Barbara Bush had a night nanny for all the years when she had at least one child under two are not that high. Not all people from money always had much to spend in the early years. Even aside from being awakened by a crying child, there is staying up late to finish school projects, getting up very early to get all the kids off to school. I grew up in a place where many people were rich, yet the number of people who had more than, say, four kids and had enough nannies, housekeepers, and drivers to ensure the mother got eight hours of sleep every night throughout all their childhoods was minuscule. Real (meaning involved) mothers — and fathers, too! — who have big families don’t get enough sleep — even if they are rich.
Most wealthy moms had night nannies. Wealthy grandmothers coughed up the dough so their daughters didn’t look old before their times. And look ‘run down’.
I grew up kin to more than a few wealthy people. The ‘night nurse’ was prevalent while the kid was 6m or less. My own grandmother was a ‘night nurse’ for a few years. Paid good money too.
After that the kid usually sleeps through the night. Most nights. I had a buncho kids. Letting the kid ‘cry it out’ was a common parenting tactic.
I didn’t do that but my parents generation did.
What our parents generation had was ‘interrupted’ sleep. Which parents still have due to kids. What they didn’t do was stay up to 11pm or later watching various TV shows. I still remember when the nightly news, over at 10:30pm, brought on the ‘Indian graphic’ that signalled the end of the broadcast day. 24/7 programming wasn’t available to distract.
Commutes weren’t insanely long yet either. Cities were still safe for the middle class. Now commuters have to be awake at 5:00am to begin their commute at 6am to be at work at 8am.
So now, there’s interrupted sleep due to kids which has always been around for MOST of humanity, plus losing an hour or two on either end of what would normally have been sound sleep 40 years ago.
After the advent of free public school the (housewife) mom of many could, theoretically, catch 30m or 45m of sleep if she enforced naptime for the littles still at home. I did this, especially when I had a newborn. Working moms can’t do this.
So, lots less sleep. As for number of kids. Who can afford that now?