Baby feeding schedule of 1970's

[HoHoHowMuch]

A relative found this feeding schedule from probably early to mid 1970's. Amazed to see how much advice has changed! No feeding on demand. Orange juice from 2 months and boiled cows milk from 8 months. No fresh vegetables, but honey at 7 months is all good. I guess we all survived, so it can't have been that bad, but looks VERY different to what I have done with my kids in the past 10 years.

I remember that - solids from three months, and four-hourly milk feeds when younger.

DB and I were born 1970/72. Just send this to my mum. She said none of this was recommended to her. She BF us both for 9 months and then weened starting on baby rice and then puréed fruit and veg. She did the same as her mum did in the mid-late 40s for her own DC.
We probably survived because not everyone followed the same advice.
DM said honey was a definite no no for under 12 months.

Surviving isn't really the goal though is it. I imagine a lot of people who were babies in those days now struggle with IBS or other gut related stuff.

My mother says she weaned me on weetabix and baby rice at 6 weeks (i was born in 1978)
no on demand feeding-it was every 4 hours for 20 minutes (she breastfed us)
tough luck if we where hungry inbetween
no real diet advice if you where pregnant or breastfeeding but Guinness was a good idea for the iron
butter was a no-no but honey from 6 months (for baby)

by the time she had my brother two years later the advice was butter was fine but no to margarine-honey was fine from a year and not to wean until 3 months
she had twins in 1984 and she didn’t follow any advice-she just did what she felt like (which is the story of her life)

she was shocked at the advice I was given in 1997-no weaning until 4 months,no honey for the first year and no advice on butter or margarine
breastfeed for the first 6 months-on demand
I wasn’t to eat soft cheeses,peanuts or liver while pregnant
No booze at all

by the time I had my last baby in 2007,the advice was no weaning before 6 months,no honey for a year and don’t eat peanuts,liver,shark,soft cheese,sushi or more than two tins of tuna a week if your pregnant or breastfeeding which you should do for at least a year)
booze was limited to no more than two units a week

Mil's ndn had a premature dc. Raised for 3 months on Carnation milk!!

Dh was born v premature in the 60s. His mum.was told he would die so his nan took him.home and fed him brandy from a fountain pen, carnation milk and sago. Still here now. In contrast, I exclusively breast

Breastfed for almost a year as dc refused solids. Nan was livid 😆

And yet most of those adults are totally healthy and probably less obese/allergies than younger people!

Funny how advice takes a long time to filter into communities too. My MIL says she wasn't advised not to smoke or drink when pregnant with my DH in 1987 which I am not sure I believe. She says the dangers were not known about or discussed, but she was under army healthcare. She also BF until he was nearly two but only for 15 mins max each side every 4 hours no matter what the age or situation. Meanwhile my mum gave up smoking when pregnant with me in 1987, and BF on demand.

They now encourage pregnant women not to avoid peanuts, as the rate of allergies increased when women actively avoided them!

Really?
I didn’t know that!
it’s amazing how things change-I really missed peanuts when I was pregnant

I have never heard the advice to avoid peanuts. No wonder there are so many allergies!

I clearly remember the midwife telling me I was to avoid them at all costs
i bloody love a dry roasted but didn’t have them at all

Depends where the advice comes from. I've just had a look in my mum's bible, aka the Penelope Leach book, published 1977. It says no baby should have solids under 3 months unless there's a medical reason. Goes on to say that the first foods are for exploration more than nutrition, and to begin with cereals and fruit.

I can’t believe the orange juice at 2 months 😂

I totally agree with scheduled feeding though - but I think it should be every 3 hours not 4 as I don’t believe many newborns can go 4 hours happily.

I fed all of mine every 3 hours during the day whether they seemed hungry or not (sooner if they were hungry before 3 hours obvs) and it worked like a dream. They were fed so much in the day that they were all sleeping through from 10pm-7am by 11 weeks-ish.

Oh and re BFing it says "let the baby suck when she is hungry, no matter how often that may be" and not to wait until feed times.

Early exposure is good for preventing allergies to nuts it has been found.

What country is that from advising a "chapate"? Is that Chapatti??

Sugary rusks and cereals. Fed in bottles as a thickener. Tea in bottles from very young too.

The thing that shocks me most is the speed at which the milk is dropped - down to 2 feeds a day by 5 months, with most nutrition from other foods. Fast forward to now, at the same age you are still exclusively milk feeding on demand.

Humans are very adaptable I guess ...

The peanut advice changed sometime around 2003-2006 as I was told I didn't need to avoid them when pregnant with ds in 2006 but think I did get advised not to eat them on 2003.

Now you shouldn't avoid them unless you are allergic to them

❤Families did what they had to/knew at the time. I love that Nan took him home!

My DF was the youngest of a large rural Irish family. His mum was in her 40’s and ill after birth so between her and older (female) siblings he was weaned v v early on milky weak tea with some bread in, via a a bottle I think. He’s 78 now and baring some arthritis, there’s nowt wrong with him.

I was given baby rice at 3 weeks on the advice of the health visitor because I was such a sick baby (probably undiagnosed reflux as both my DC had reflux).

@00100001 I believe UK. Just old and may not have checked the spelling with anyone who actually ate them.

There’s a whole generation of babies who ended up bottle fed, like myself, because women, like my mum, were told they “didn’t have enough milk” . How on earth milk supply is meant to be stimulated on 4 hourly feeds goodness only knows. I wonder who came up with that idea?