a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 175 (MED) In tyme of child berynge þe ligaturis recchiþ.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Gen. xxv. 24 The tyme of childberyng cam.

1528 Rede me & be nott Wrothe sig. cvi^v The goode lady is barayne, Lyke to be past chylde bearynge.

1611 Bible (King James) 1 Tim. ii. 15 She shall be saued in child-bearing, if they continue in faith and charitie. View more context for this quotation

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 1051 To thee Pains onely in Child-bearing were foretold. View more context for this quotation

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 89. ¶1 Sylvia has demurred till she is past Child-bearing.

1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 74 There was a great diversity of sizes in those parts, owing to nature, child-bearing, frequent over-stretching with unmerciful machines.

1801 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 5 581 After child-bearing, the veins..are often found distended with blood.

1895 Law Times' Rep. 72 817/1 A woman well past the age of childbearing.

1918 M. C. Stopes Married Love v. 51 It often happens nowadays that, dreading the expense and the physical strain of child-bearing for his wife, the husband practises what is called coitus interruptus.

1981 N.Y. Times Mag. 18 Jan. Childbearing has dropped precipitately in the United States since the end of the baby boom.

1612 tr. J. Guillemeau Child-birth i. iii. 12 If it [sc. her belly] appeare more swollen and bigger then in her other child-bearing.., then may you safely say that she goeth with two children.

1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. xxiv. v. 890 In this greatnesse of childe bearing.

1759 S. Johnson Philos. Mirrour 24 Not to offend or create Uneasiness to their female Companions (or Wives) in their Time of Child-bearing, or Pregnancy.

1862 G. C. Lewis Astron. Anc. i. §4. 21 The period of child-bearing in women..is 280 days.

1989 Financial Post (Canada) (Nexis) 8 May ii. 18 It is difficult to picture a mother-to-be going through nine months of childbearing only to placidly and willingly hand over her child to strangers.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xlix. 21 Bareyn, not child berende [L. sterilis et non pariens].

1604 H. Petowe Londoners their Entertainm. in Countrie sig. D2^v Hath this child-bearing fruitfull wombe of mine, Brought forth so many.

a1617 P. Baynes Comm. Epist. First Chapter Paul to Ephesians (1618) vii. 173 That gratifying, mother, child-bearing grace.

1655 W. Gouge & T. Gouge Learned Comm. Hebrewes (ii. 18) i. 255 Child-bearing women are more pitifull to others in their travails, then such women as are barren.

1715 S. Whatley Short Hist. Warming-pan 17 Nurses.., especially in a Queen's Case, are about the Child-bearing Woman long before-hand.

1783 Crit. Rev. Public Buildings London (new ed.) 158 Those institutions which afford relief to the child-bearing poor.

1821 Q. Rev. Oct. 164 The increase of population must depend on the increase of child-bearing women.

1883 J. M. Duncan Clin. Lect. Dis. Women (ed. 2) viii. 54 This is a sphincteric opening, and during the child-bearing period of life it must open and close.

1949 M. Mead Male & Female viii. 180 In Bali..the post-menopausal woman and the virgin girl work together at ceremonies from which women of child-bearing age are debarred.

1981 B. Head Serowe 182 Bobjwale was the senior child-bearing wife.

2012 L. M. Bodnar & M. S. Parrott in M. W. Gilman & L. Poston Maternal Obesity xvi. 191/1 With the rising rates of severe obesity among women of childbearing age, we are in urgent need of effective interventions that will improve the outcome in obese pregnancy.

1917 W. Lewis in Little Rev. Oct. 9 He had noticed the redness of her cheeks, the animal fulness of the child-bearing hips.

1957 O. Hitt Devil in Flesh 88 Rita had child-bearing hips and a body that was made to support two.

1964 Financial Times 7 July 18/8 Hen-lobsters have, as it were, child-bearing hips; they're broad where the male is slender.

1984 D. Rees Islands 56 He had very wide hips: ‘child-bearing hips’ his friends often teased. And glasses.

1999 Independent 14 Oct. ii. 4/2 Asian women are not meant to look like stick insects, and our clothes have evolved to suit women who have childbearing hips and a proper bosom.

2015 C. Oakley Before I Go 135 Her hips are wide and round. Childbearing hips. The phrase enters my mind, unbidden.