Mother and baby advice from 1960 - ask away!

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

I've been clearing out my father's house (he's sold it) and I've found the baby manuals given to my mother when I was born in 1960.

There are four: the "Glaxo Mother and Baby" book, "From Milk to Mixed Diet" (a guide to modern baby feeding), "Relaxation and exercise for natural childbirth" (1959) and "You and your baby," published by the BMA.

If anyone would like any advice (only 60 years out-of-date!) on this topic, please ask and I shall attempt to answer.

[boatyardblues]

Does it give a steer on washing new baby clothes before first wear?

[Fandaddydoozie]

'you see, really see the colours of the sky'

I used to 'smell, really smell the dog shit on the pavements' before having to duck behind a car to crouch down and dry heave!

Oh the Unexpected Joys of Pregnancy!

[Fandaddydoozie]

'Motherhood is a joy that is learned in pregnancy'

😂

[NeverDropYourMoonCup]

@like7

Great thread! Is there anything about breech births? Mum had her 2 in early 60's both at home - DB was breech and she talked of having to lay with her legs up the wall before giving birth - mind boggles.

I think that would be to slow the initial passage so that she didn't have a footling presentation - apparently, that can make women have the urge to push before full dilatation and thereby hold up the birth from swelling of the cervix/increase the risk of the head becoming stuck and the baby being deprived of oxygen.

[LaMarschallin]

I used to have a manual for housewives from the 20s. Sadly I lost it in a house move.
It had various timetables for mothers, starting with a household with servants, going down to just a cook and a maid, then - sounding a bit exasperated - the family who only have a maid-of-all-work (poor girl), ending with an obvious eye roll with "the family with no help".

This was something like:
7:00am Wash and dress.
Feed, wash and change baby.
Put baby - appropriately dressed - on pram in garden.
8:00 Prepare husband's breakfast.
8:10 Clear husband's breakfast

Then various tasks like black-leading the grate (and fetching husband's indigestion pills, presumably) until...

11:30 Bring baby in from garden. Feed, change etc and back out he (of course) goes.

They did have some heart though, as from something like 4:00 to 4:30 you could "play with baby".
So that's nice.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

Notlostjustexploring

Not much said about it at all really. Just this.

Gentle overflowing after a meal is normal to babies; it is simply regurgitation caused by wind. Excessive crying can cause wind and sickness, which is one reason why baby should not be left cry for long, in case sickness occurs and the baby inhales it.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

Notlostjustexploring - not exactly about the sleep either. I mentioned some before, there's also this about if the baby fails to settle.

Pick him up and Pat is back to see if he can bring up any wind. Babies can also be helped to bring up wind by length and face downwards for a short time with a pillow underneath the body instead of the head.

...

If your baby is easily disturbed by loud noises, it will be better to put him to sleep in the quietest part of the house rather than in the garden. Soft music from the wireless sometimes helps to lull a wakeful baby.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

Notlostjustexploring - no, but when my grandmother had it in the 70s, the doctor said he could either prescribe some big tablets, or she could have a Guinness each evening. A crate was ordered.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

@MissPinkCakeyBun - the actual one? Wow! I presume you're not called Fiona :)

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

BertieBotts Plenty of difficult foods are mentioned but the sixties baby never seems to object to anything. Here's a bit about the balance between processed foods and natural ones.

If you put your mind to it you can bring up any baby without ever using a can opener or a pre-cooked cereal. Contrariwise you can bring up a baby on nothing but tin dried milk, pre-cooked cereals, and canned, strained and sieved foods. And in health growth, and all else, nobody could tell the difference.

Both these extreme policies seem to me to be daft. If you have a garden in plenty of time and plenty of domestic help, there is a lot of fun in taking your own fresh vegetables and fruits and sieving, straining, making purees and the like for the young baby. Any good housewife can make her own beef and vegetable broth and very good it is. And the same applies to most baby foods, if you have the time and equipment to do all the preparing, sitting, straining and all the other things that have to be done.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

BertieBotts

Here's some more foods that don't appear to worry the eight month old baby.

Any well ordered baby should be eating a whole egg by 7 to 8 months and it can be lightly boiled or poached or scrambled. On alternate days try to arrange meat and fish dishes. The meats to go for our beef, modern, bacon, rabbit, chicken, liver, kidney, sweet bread, brains, and tripe.

...

Any kind of fish is possible but go particularly for plaice, dabs, sole, fresh haddock, cod. Sardines are good in sandwiches, but need to be boned. Don't let your baby attempt herrings and kippers until after 12 months. And halibut, canned salmon and roes need to be kept until the two-year-old toddler stage.

[tappitytaptap]

I love these! I wonder if the doctor would prescribe something for my 2 year old who still won’t sleep

[eddiemairswife]

I still have my baby mouli-mixer for pureeing food.

[MissPinkCakeyBun]

Nope I have a very unusual name as my parents were hippies.

My mum has that book at home and has the midwifes name in it etc

[Witchend]

One of my favourites from one of dm's books was about support stockings. Apparently you should never even get up in the night to go to the toilet without putting your support stockings on or you will have varicose veins for the rest of your life.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

MrsTravers I think the implication is that the husband moves back into the marital bedroom. Travel not mentioned either, but there is this rather nice ad for a pram, available in the new range of gay exciting colours in standard or DuoTone stylings.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

AdoraBell It has, early on in the thread I think.

[Fandaddydoozie]

What should one do about a baby that is not 'well ordered"?

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

like7 Not quite as exciting.

Usually, the child lives with its head downwards, so that she is born head first. Sometimes the doctor may discover that the baby has not been able to take up this position, and usually by gentle manipulation he can correct this.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

Witchend Yes, a similar thing.

Varicose veins are chiefly due to the same kind of pressure (as piles) and when a woman has had several children they may cause considerable discomfort in the legs. It is naturally important to avoid wearing garters when varicose veins are present as these tend to make them more painful. Rest with the feet up will give considerable relief, and when necessary, your doctor will prescribe an elastic stocking, of which there are several kinds readily available. The stockings are washable and are best put on before getting out of bed in the morning.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

Fandaddydoozie All sixties babies have exacting schedules!

[CaptainMyCaptain]

@MrsSlocombesPussy

Does it mention drinking pints of Guinness for anaemia? My mum told me they used to give it to expectant/new mothers in hospital.
She says she had to go into hospital when she had me, because she has size 3 feet.

My mother was told to drink Guinness in pregnancy (1955), I followed the same advice in 1980. My mum had a caesarian in a British Military Hospital abroad. She was barely 5ft tall. My sister was born by caesarian in a hospital 30 miles away from where we lived (very rural) so had to go in a week before her due date and stay in 2 weeks after. My dad looked after me by himself which was probably quite unusual in 1957.

[TerpsichoreanMuse]

Post natal depression is for wimps!

A tremendous readjustment to normal conditions is going on in your body, and because of this it is very common for a woman to have a fit of the "blues", an acute attack of depression, about the sixth day or so. You may find yourself crying bitterly without any real reason for it. This is just one of those things you will have to accept and which will pass. It happens to many women and is of no importance so don't worry about it.

[WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo]

@TerpsichoreanMuse

Post natal depression is for wimps!

A tremendous readjustment to normal conditions is going on in your body, and because of this it is very common for a woman to have a fit of the "blues", an acute attack of depression, about the sixth day or so. You may find yourself crying bitterly without any real reason for it. This is just one of those things you will have to accept and which will pass. It happens to many women and is of no importance so don't worry about it.

That's kind of what my ex MIL and ex SIL said when I had DS2. Well they certainly implied it. Needless to say I didn't seek help for my PND until it was almost too late and ended up as a suicidal single parent.

[Ellmau]

@InsideOfEmptiness

Love this thread. I've got a book called 'Frankly Feminine', that was given to my Mum when she got married in the 70s, but was first published in the 60s.

Chapters include:
Perfect Posture
Reason and Rouge
Care-free legs
Stocking techniques
Eating Difficult Food
Travelling Abroad at an Hotel
How to make a Pretty Speech
Quarrelling
Unexpected Joys of Pregnancy
Keeping Your Looks
New-Baby Routine
Planning a Menu
Setting the Table
Candle Glow
In Search of Vitality
The Middle Years

I mean it's ridiculous but I kind of love reading it

When do the middle years start, @InsideOfEmptiness? Is it code for the menopause or do they mean around 30?