Bye, Baby Bunting

Bye, baby bunting is a lullaby often sung to babies. As many nursery rhymes and lullabies, the lyrics have shifted over time since it was first written in the 1700's. By the start of the 1800's the lyrics were:

Bye, baby bunting,
Father's gone a-hunting,
Mother's gone a-milking,
Sister's gone a-silking,
Brother's gone to buy a skin
To wrap the baby bunting in.

Here, 'bunting' is a warm term for a baby that also mean 'plump'.

It was first published in 'The Gentleman's Magazine', a monthly magazine in London.