I know that mothers still swaddle their babies, and that has been going on since Biblical times (Luke 2:7) (and probably long before). Although there was, at one time, a trend away from breast-feeding (at least in the First World), as far as I know the vast majority of mothers the world over* still nurse their babies, as they have done for as long as there have been H. Sapiens on the map.
The only things I can think of that are (relatively) new with regard to childcare and/or child-rearing are:
[ul]
[li]Vaccinations. Obviously these are a technological development and so we can’t necessarily attribute their use to a change in attitudes/philosophy.[/li][li]Private beds/bedrooms. This has more to do with changes in the overall standard of living, I imagine (e.g., families can afford more than one bed; families can afford to pay a heating bill rather than bundling up the whole family in one bed to preserve warmth; etc.). Although there does seem to be a trend toward co-sleeping among some mothers.[/li][li]Trending away from corporal punishment. Based on some of my reading assignments from high school, it seems that some forms of corporal that today would be considered horrific child abuse (even by those who spank) were par for the course. Society seems to be moving away from spanking, although many parents continue to spank, and while many government attempt to put a stop to it. While the spanking debate rages on, I think we can agree that, as a species, we don’t punish our children nearly as severely as we used to, say, 200 years ago.[/li][li]Compulsory Education/Public Education Used to be that the only children who got a formal education were those whose parents could afford to pay for it. Now every child in the First World (and most of them in the Second and Third Worlds) not only have a free government education provided for them, they are required by law to get an education (be it government-provided, privately-provided, etc.), under pain of various penalties for their parents.[/li][/ul]
What are some other ways in which child-care has generally changed over the millenia?
*Are there any numbers available about what percentage of First World moms today breast-feed vs. bottle-feed?