What were the 'rules' about putting your baby to sleep in the 1970s?

[70sCarpet]

As an adult, I absolutely cannot sleep on my back ever. And this got me thinking about how I might have been put to sleep in the cot? Did I form this habit very early on? Sadly my parents aren't around to ask. When I had my own kids, the advice was very definitely to put babies on their backs. So I'm asking here, if anyone knows what baby sleep advice was in the 70s?

Face down was the recommendation. I can't back sleep either, I always sleep on my front.

I'm sure in my case dummy was dipped in Guinness and maybe even stronger stuff for good nights sleep. 😂

Yes they used to say sleep on front as they thought it would avoid choking on vomit. My mum still thinks sleeping on back is unsafe!

AE18
My aunt was born in 1979 and her parents were told to put her on her front. So there could be something in it!
---
Mine was born 1979 and babies were put on their front then, they put their head to one side (weren't asleep on their noses). Once they started moving around and rolling they chose their own position. Lying on back was considered dangerous because if the baby vomited it could cause choking.

I don't sleep on my back, never have, always on my side. I've no idea what position I laid down in when I was a baby.

My mum put me down on my tummy. Apparently the wisdom was babies wouldn't choke on their sick if they were on their front. Obviously that's changed now.

It is interesting how prem babies are often put to sleep "prone", but then they are heavily observed.

Being around cigarette smoke is also a big risk factor for sids so I think the reduction in parental smoking is also a big factor in the reduction of sids - at least that is what a paediatrician told me...

I'm a 90s baby and was put to sleep on my back, but I still can't sleep on my back or front, only sides. Except now I'm pregnant and shouldn't be sleeping on my back, I seem to roll onto it all the time, especially with my pregnancy pillow as it's like a little cocoon so I've had to stop using it!

I don’t actually know why I am alive. Born in 1975 placental abruption at 7 months (probably about 29-30 weeks) stayed in hospital for 6 weeks then came out and was weaned onto mince and tarries not gravy but fed mince! Extra scoop in bottle too apparently I slept for 17 hours straight, my mother asked the doctor if this was normal and he said if I was unhappy I would wake. Alternate sides so not to hurt babies bones was the advice re sleeping. Both parents and all relatives chain smoked too.

Born in the early 70s
My mum smoked quite heavily during twin pregnancy
Used to leave me and my sister outside in the pram sleeping in the summer.
Left outside a shop in our pram when my mum went into a shop.
Those were the days 😂😂

SIDS reduction undoubtably due to reduction in smoking in pregnant mothers and around young babies.

My DDs were born in 1980s and the advice for both was to lay them on their tummy’s - to stop them choking on their vomit.

I remember talking to a mum who’d had babies in Japan where babies were always put on their back and how weird was that!

I was born in 1980 and I have older siblings.
We were all put to sleep on our fronts.
I can remember the Back To Sleep campaign and I asked my mum about it at the time!
I can't sleep on my back as it sets my asthma off.

L

I’m sure I’ve read that one of the reasons back sleeping reduces SIDS is because babies can rarely sleep as deeply on their backs as they can in any other position, and the reflex to keep stirring “reminds” them to breathe. No idea if that’s the case, but I know I can’t sleep properly on my back. Was a side sleeper as a baby and same now.

Mine were late 70's - early 80's. I was advised to wrap them firmly ( like swaddling) and then put them to bed on their sides to prevent any choking. They both did fine . As far as I know they both sleep on their backs now.

Isn't it just easier to sleep on your stomach generally though, isn't that why people want to put babies to sleep on their stomach as they sleep easier? (I obviously followed the guidance!!) So perhaps it's not so much about not being put on your back as a baby but that we naturally sleep better on our stomachs? Most animals do. Babies tend to sleep on their stomach more once they can roll around so it's not for all that long?

Mid-70's baby here, and yes; the advice was putting a newborn down on their stomachs to sleep. The thinking was, literally, that if we were sick in the night... we'd not choke on it.

However the advice was also leaving a small baby to "cry it out", as we were "just being naughty" - and we tended to sleep in separate rooms to our mothers, wherever possible. I know my mother certainly practised this, because she tells a "funny" tale about how she took me to the family GP when I was around 12 to 18 months, because I was keeping her awake with my screaming... not to check and see if there was anything wrong with me; but for sleeping pills for herself. Which the GP gave to her, no questions asked. She also found it bizarre that I would pick my babies up and cuddle them/hold them just for the sake of feeling them close to me. That also wasn't widely practised in the '70s/'80s, it would seem... but leaving us out "to air" in our prams? Or outside shops whilst they went in (my mother forgot me once and didn't remember she had a small baby until she got home... an hour's walk away! Thankfully I was still outside the shop where she'd parked me).

Thank fuck times have changed!

I was born in the 80s. My dm swaddled me and I still cannot sleep without the duvet/top sheet round by my face 🤷‍♀️

My brother and I were born in the 70s and my mum said they were told to put us on our fronts to sleep, so that if we vomited, we wouldn't choke on it. I used to sleep on my tummy always until I had DS, for some reason I can't do it any more.

(my mother forgot me once and didn't remember she had a small baby until she got home... an hour's walk away! Thankfully I was still outside the shop where she'd parked me).

My mum did this with my brother! She left him outside the side door of Woolworths, and left out of the front door. She only got halfway home though. She said she kept thinking, "What have I forgotten? I know I've forgotten something..." He was still there too.

She was very responsive to us though, we were cuddled constantly. In fact, when I was born, the midwives forgot to take me to the nursery for the first night so she spent all night cuddling me. When they came back in the morning, they said "Oh Mrs Rain, you shouldn't have had baby all night!" and took me away! She always said that was why we were so close - that first night of snuggles.

PetrichorRain - it was Woolworths I was left outside of, too... it must have been something about their double doors!

My Dad was born in the late sixties and my DGM told me she used to swaddle him and my Uncle up in about three layers all of the time. She said the midwife removed my Dad’s knitted bootees because he was too warm and my DGM insisted he wear them because ‘if your feet get cold, you get cold’. Definitely were put on their front to sleep, most babies were because it was thought to reduce the risk of choking on vomit.

Oh and it’s worth saying my Dad was born in Spring, Uncle in summer so not cold outside...

There’s been advice against co sleeping since the 1800s.
Dr Spock was the baby guru from post war to 80s, only the Bible outsold him.

Oh thank you. All of this, including the grannies. My baby was born in 1981, and I was just writing something about rolling up a dish towel to wedge him onto his side and got to second-guessing myself. Thought I'd see what I could find out online and arrived here.