To be enjoying reading this 'Complete Babycare' book from 1979?

[Kayano]

I asked my mum a bit of advice (how old normally when they roll over) and she cracked out this gem of a book

I am reading it like

Some choice quotes:
'pregnancy can be a very enjoyable time for women, a time when one can make the most of long days at home and seek out pursuits such as sewing or dressmaking...'

:O

'most women have slight swelling of the hands and fingers in late pregnancy'

This wouldn't be so bad if not accompanied by a pic of a woman looking all bolted and sadly having to lay down her knitting needles. Really!

'rest periods are also ideal times for embarking on practical preparations, like knitting baby clothes'
Accompanied by an enthusiastic knitter.

'once your baby is born you will spend even more time in the kitchen.'

I never spend time
In the kitchen unless I have run out of chocolate and need to make
Some emergency cake mix. I don't spend time in the kitchen now! If I do the night feed damn straight DH is cooking and sterilising the bottles

Thank god things have progressed!

This book was an edition published in the 1980s but you totally
Wouldn't think so! It's from m&s too!

How delightful. Please share more insights!

Love it share some more

My mum has a 1959 edition of Dr Spock which is even more entertaining and has recipies for making up baby milk with evaporated mil and brown sugar.

That sounds nice, I would rather be on the sofa resting for 9 months than at work carrying on as normal :)
I don't think the 80s were as progressive as people now remember, I was born in the 80s and hardly any of my friends mums worked, and of those it was mainly part time. Jobs were things like shop assistant, hairdresser, bank cashier etc. & it was a mixed school with some free school dinners but also GPs daughter for example.
Also baby clothes weren't as good back then, my mum had to buy boys clothes for my sister cos they didn't make trousers or dungarees for girls!
Would love to know what other gems are in it though!

Tell us more!

I've got a BRILLIANT book from the 70s by Gordon Bourne. He was superb. I love it and so many things in there are relevant now but aren't included in modern books...really good detailed stuff you just don't get in pregnancy literature any more. I think because people assume everyone knows it, or it's not just been discovered, now, other things have so there's no room for this fascinating stuff.

It's falling to bits after two kids but I love my copy of 'Pregnancy' with its woman sadly gazing out the window on the front, draped in some hippy shit with long flowing hair

I'd never trust any book from M&S.

More Quotes:

Floor coverings for a
Child's room need to be easy to clean and good for the efficient running of clockwork toys

Until your baby is six months old, he can sleep in a Moses basket, cradle or even a drawer! Anything, in fact, that he feels comfortable in.

really... Anything?!

Even if breastfeeding, you need at least two
Bottles for the occasional feed and for water'

For bathing your baby you need to allow for at least an hour. This will be followed by an evening meal for you and your husband.

will it? Ok? Suppose I have to cook that as in always in the damn kitchen? What about the husbandless?

'before you go to bed, allow a reasonable time to attend to dishes.'

ffs where is the DH then eh? Eh? I have to cook and do the dishes? Errrr no way

Evaporated mil? That's one way of getting rid of them

If its the book I think it is, can you copy the bit about homebirth please?! Its a tinyparagraph!

I had a copy of this but lost it, and it was a real gem!

I love the Illingworth books (various editions from the 1950s to the 1970s).

Christina Hardyment has written a great book which is a survey of the history of childrearing advice.

No I enjoyed readin my nan s guide to childbirth from 1943, it included such gems as : the few days after childbirth will be especially difficult for your husband you should consider making him his favourite dishes and ensure that you are well presented at your evening meal

:o Angry

If only.....

The few days after childbirth will be especially difficult for your husband so to keep him motivated you should consider smashing him the face with a used bedpan if he doesnt divvy up with the tea and biscuits on demand.

I was a child of the seventies and my bedroom floor was indeed good for the efficient running of clockwork toys. Maybe my Mum read the book!

surely they had dishwashers in the 1980s? In fact I know we did because we had one in our old house that we moved out of in 1979, and have always had one in our new house.

Amazing how quickly things change. Imagine putting that in a book today? It would rival SWMNBN for controversy :o

Gosh, Mama, I hadn't thought how hard the few days after childbirth would be for my husband what with the lochia and stitches and cracked nipples and things I was selflessly thinking were good reasons for him to look after me!

And Kayano, an hour to bathe a baby? I remember being disappointed at how little time it would take 'cause I'd be counting down the minutes til DD's bedtime!

Any more gems?

I slept in a drawer! 1970s

Have a good nutritious breakfast with your husband rather than a cup of coffee and a cigarette!'

apparently no shift work in 1979

'when mixing the feed, the water
You add to the dried milk powder must be boiled. Then cooled to just above blood temperature as if it is too cold the powder will be difficult to dissolve.'

I've got a fifties one that advises sticking to one cocktail a day.
And so I do mostly

HeadFairy, yes they were available but they were VVV expensive. I only knew one family that had one, and the dad was a bank manager back when that was a posh job! And it was crap, you practically had to wash the plates before you put them in, so as my mum said, whats the point?!

Oh these are amazing.

What are they doing for an hour in the bath though? That's a thorough clean for a tiny little thing.

i live in the noughties and i dont have a dishwasher!

My mum tells me that grandma and grandad left her (at 8 weeks old) in a drawer while they went out for the evening...

I was born in 79. I think DM probably didn't read that!