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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Parenting in the past - what were they thinking?!

180 replies

maGicGift · 05/05/2011 14:21

For example... alcohol in baby's bottle to help him sleep, leaving baby in the back garden/front porch for nap time (so parents can't here him cry) feeding baby condensed milk in a bottle instead of formula.

It's amazing how advise changes so quickly - do you have any more funny/strange past parenting stories? Those above were from my Mum/Gran

OP posts:
icooksocks · 05/05/2011 14:24

At the time they were doing the advised thing. I don't think "what were they thinking" is nice or helpful. Who knows-in 50 years time people will look down on the way we did things, will you apreciate them saying "what were they thinking when actually all you have dne is follow guidelines.

Flojo1979 · 05/05/2011 14:24

I was just talking to my dad yesterday who said he used to play out in the street at 3 yrs old with his big brother (5 yrs old at the time) looking after him. He said one do they had gone to local train track and were putting plastercine on the track to see if they could stop a train....what was my grandparents thinking!!

Original poster
maGicGift · 05/05/2011 14:26

Thats my point exactly, how quickly the advise changes, my Gran laughs at the things she used to do which people would never do now without causing outrage. I'd be suprised if in 50yrs people didnt think we did the wrong thing.

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 05/05/2011 14:26

I dont think leaving the baby in the garden to sleep was anything to do with not hearing them cry, it was so they could have some fresh air. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Most of us have survived, so they cant have been doing much wrong.

Flojo1979 · 05/05/2011 14:27

Having said this, i often leave baby in back garden for nap time, my mum has instilled in me that lots of fresh air is the key.
And alcohol in babies bottle probably worked, tho i'd be interested how many of those today r actually alcohol dependant. Not condoning it, but who's to say they were wrong, its it that or give em a good shake cos they wont sleep then i know which is preferable!

Original poster
maGicGift · 05/05/2011 14:28

I think its a shame times have changed so much, my Gran said all the neighbours in her street used to put their baby's to sleep in front of their houses and they would all look after each others - if they went out to check on their baby they would go down the street and check on everyone elses!

OP posts:
fruitshootsandheaves · 05/05/2011 14:30

I used to leave mine in the garden to sleep. My neighbour would sometimes come and tell me when I was trying to ignore them they were awake, but soon after they learnt to walk they got out themselves and came to find me Shock

Original poster
maGicGift · 05/05/2011 14:30

Imagine if in one of the BF/FF threads someone posted - "actually, I feed my baby condensed milk"!

OP posts:
naturalbaby · 05/05/2011 14:34

My grandad loved telling me how my mum was put out in her pram in the snow for some fresh air.
A lady I know told me when she had her babies they were taken away by the midwives and brought back every 4hrs for a feed. Mums went home after a week or so with babies in a perfect routine. Going through hourly feeds, cluster feeds and not getting any of my babies to go longer than 3hrs till they were a couple of months old makes me wonder how the midwives kept the babies waiting for 4hrs till their next feed!
On a visit to one of Shakespeare's houses there was a hook on the ceiling. The guide told us the baby would be wrapped up and hung from the hook to keep him from getting under people's feet. When ds2 is tripping over his own feet and clinging to my legs I threaten to hang him from a large hook on the ceiling (under my breath to dh).

ninedragons · 05/05/2011 14:36

That hook idea is spectacular

I think Mumsnet would actually explode if someone waded into a BF/FF debate to recommend condensed milk. I might try it one day.

Xiaoxiong · 05/05/2011 14:37

I've always howled at this and wondered how anyone could ever have thought it was a good idea.

You still see them in some places - Brooklyn, New York for example (see photos here and here)

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 05/05/2011 14:39

Bahahahaha at the baby cage! Mental

therugratref · 05/05/2011 14:56

The thing is the human race survived all of that "what were they thinking" stuff. Just as it will survive our namby pamby permissive parenting- eg no more babies are abducted today than in the 70's when our mums left the pram outside the shops. Something which would warrent at the very least a call to the police and or social services today.

thefruitwhisperer · 05/05/2011 14:59

I wish I had a nice garden to leave my baby in! Wink

MissVerinder · 05/05/2011 14:59

My gran left my mum in her bottom drawer at 8wo for 6 hours to go dancing...

FabbyChic · 05/05/2011 15:01

In the past too we weaned at 14 to 20 weeks! That alas was 20 odd years ago.

Insomnia11 · 05/05/2011 15:05

I don't think someone would call SS for someone leaving the baby outside the shop- unless it was a supermarket or something. I have left both DDs outside little shops before where you couldn't get in easily with a pram and you could see them through the window.

Champersonice · 05/05/2011 15:07

But we have all lived to tell our tales as did our relatives!

ChateauRouge · 05/05/2011 15:07

Shouldn't this be on Gransnet?

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 05/05/2011 15:12

I'm sure parents of the past would be quite horrified at the parents of today...

Going out to work, giving childcare to strangers.... buying and feeding shop bought meals to their families... broken families... latchkey kids... violence and vandalism perpetrated by kids.... absent parents... drunk/drugged parents and children... bad behaviour in schools... lack of discipline and manners... treating PILs/GPs and other family members as 'disposable' unless they want something... and some spending all day chatting on a computer instead of 'doing stuff' with their kids.

All of these points and more would probably cause yesteryear's parents to raise their eyebrows so none of us can really afford to be complacent or judgemental.

There seems to be a heck of a lot of really judgey threads at the moment... obviously the OPs of them feel a false sense of superiority.. Hmm

exoticfruits · 05/05/2011 15:15

I'm sure that your DCs will laugh at your ideas when they become parents!

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 05/05/2011 15:15

Sorry, OP... I don't think you were being that judgey actually, but there are a lot of judgey threads lately. Blush

Hammy02 · 05/05/2011 15:16

Yay LyingWitch. OP seems to assume what we have now is progress!

redundanttiara · 05/05/2011 15:18

Condensed milk used to have directions on the side of the tin on how to make up for babies. Can't remember which of us had it (there are lots of us!) but my mum clearly remembers the midwife telling her it was the best thing for baby.

Goodynuff · 05/05/2011 15:24

I was a kid when cars didn't have seatbelts in the back (at least not all of them). When I was 3, Mum had to stop suddenly, and I shot over the seat and smashed my face on the dash. I lost three teeth that day Hmm
seatbelts on kids is progress!