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!

I remember my mum telling me that I was given carnation milk by midwives, as a newborn,as she had difficulty with breast feeding!!

The book on Homosexuality:

People with anything like an 'innate tendancy' are extremely rare and when this is the case there is a definite physical aberration. Such aberrations are quite different from a slight effeminacy in boys, or masculinity in girls. These are superficialand borrowed characteristics which are rectifiable at an early age.

Children and youngsters who are attracted
To homosexual relationships are often the victim of a simple idea 'I always wanted a boy/ girl'

There is no doubt that many boys fear they are incapable of becoming men. If subsequently anything in their upbringing convinces them of failure in their own eyes this can result in them playing a woman's part in a homosexual relationship.

Where girls are concerned, a dissatisfaction in their own bodies lies behind a desire for a homosexual relationship. This is again caused by a distructive idea, such a fear of being inferior or
Nt bein in control of menstruation.
Left unchecked, such ideas can lead girls to form homosexual relationships

I don't agree MrsBethel, because at least SOME of today's parenting books are based on good quality research into child development, and up to date medical evidence.

In the past (and actually some very popular books today) advice was primarily based on little more than the author's personal experience and opinion. like Gina Ford's 'Contented Little Baby'

Did people really shut the drawer with a baby in it? Really?

I'm failing to raise eyebrows at much of what you are putting up for us to mock, tbh.
Maybe it depends on when you had your first dc. It's all fashion and little tweaks and changes that will add up over 30 years, but are not so strange after 5, 10 or 15.

Great post byMrsBethel

ok, cross posted again - I'm not agreeing with that post

I agree there's an element of fashion, but at least there's some attempt these days to be evidence-based.

The worst thing Dr Spock did of course was to recommend laying babies to sleep on their tummies, which resulted in thousands of deaths.

It's not to mock?

I'm putting it up because I was at first shocked about the differences in attitudes to women working and their past times but as I read more it was just enjoying seeing how advice has changed over the years

Mocking I was not.

I was shocked at the idea that homosexuality is something
To fix if caught early and can be caused by their parents

OK - I've dug out Henry Chavasse's excellent "Advice to a mother on the management of her children", circa 1910.

Mostly disappointingly sensible but there's a few gems, including
"Q69 How soon may an infant dispense with napkins?

A baby of three months and upwards ought to be held out, at least, a dozen times during the twenty-four hours; if such a plan were adopted, napkins might at the end of three months be dispensed with - a great desideratum - and he would be inducted into clean habits - a blessing to himself and a comfort to all around, and a great saving of dresses and of furniture. A DIRTY CHILD IS THE MOTHER'S DISGRACE!"

A friend of the family, now in her fifties, lived in Argentina when she had her first child in 1976. She was given an ancient book by a New Zealand health reformer, Dr Frederick Truby King.

She says she found it invaluable, but there were some tips which she ignored. The most memorable was that while the baby was having a morning nap was a good time to do housework. Fair enough perhaps, but examples of tasks you could tackle included 'vacuum cleaning curtains and pelmets throughout the home' and 'light silver polishing of smaller items.'

Remember the thing about dispensing with napkins goes back to the days before washing machines! There seems to be a sort of revival of interest in this "elimination communication" thingy these days in some circles. Not that a 3 month old can possibly learn any bodily function control of course. What do they mean by "held out"? Dangled out of the window to poo?

My mother was born in 1929 and weighed 2 and a half pounds at birth. She was put, wrapped in blanket, between two bricks, and placed in front of the fire. Obviously she survived. I find that amazing!!

My oldest ds was born in 1989 and at that time all babies were put to sleep on tummies.

I ignored all 'professional advice' after that tbh and think just about got it tight with dc4. If it feels right for you then it's right.

On now days advice being research based! If that's true how come there's so much conflicting advice out there still. All fashions and fads IMO.

As someone whose children were born in the 70s I don't find much of the information in the book strange; however, I am pretty sure that my friends and I didn't even buy books on parenting and having babies. I think quite often that mums these days have too much information - yes, knowledge is, of course, good, but it's very easy to get the wrong end of the stick. I am about to have my gall bladder removed - following my doctors advice I had a look on the internet. Almost the first think I read was "my wife died following her gall bladder removal"! That was when I decided that I wasn't pursuing the quest for information any more.

Whilst I appreciate that there has been enormous quantities of research I think we need to be careful how we use it. Mothers these days are discharged from hospital almost straight after having their baby. With my first I had to stay in 10 days (Essex at the time and their policy was first time mums needed help with everything), second baby in Berkshire, where my GP's policy was first time mums could leave after 48 hours, but if it was your second, etc., you had to stay in for a week to have some rest! The thing is that more often than not you did leave hospital having some proper kind of idea of how to look after a baby - always a good idea!

I remember looking through an old copy of a Truby King book that I found in a library -- there was a recommendation to let the baby have a few solid hours of a sun-bath every day, stripped naked. Sadly, that wasn't the worst of his ideas, not by a long shot.

Looky here.

?Babies,? he said are ?controlling and manipulative from birth, and it is necessary to teach them obedience by making them learn that crying will get them nowhere?. He considered it ?a dangerous indulgence? to respond to a baby?s crying: ?crying is necessary for health, essential exercise for the lungs?. -- I suspect that exH was raised this way. This is exMIL's attitude to babies' crying in a nutshell.

Got some corkers from a good housekeeping guide, 1952. I have it stuck to my fridge to remind me if mu duties.

This section's about when dear, darling lordand master returns home:

'Prepare the children. Take a few moments to wash childrem's face and hands, comb their hair and (if necessary) change their clothes. they are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.'

'Listen to him. You may have a dozen things to tell him, the moments of his arriva is not the time. Let him talk first.'

Oh I think I have seen that article. If it's the same one it has some absolute corkers about sex doesn't it?

i was fed on undiluted carnation milk on the advice of a paediatrician. this was in the early 80s. i was massively obese as a baby, thank God i was one of the lucky ones who didn't remain so as an adult!

also... how on earth i managed not to get rickets/scurvy/some other dreadful disease of malnourishment, i don't know. i suppose the same could be said for many many babies fed in the same way! sounds like this was a fairly common practice!

I have an American cook book printed in 1976. Here is a quote from the section at the back entitled 'Infant Feeding':

'Usually a newborn is allowed to rest for the first 12 hours after birth. Then he is offered sweetened water. His first drink is prepared by measuring three ounces of water into a bottle. Add one teaspoon of sugar and shake gently to dissolve. Put the nipple on and boil the entire bottle and contents for ten to twenty minutes.
Cool the water in the bottle to a temperature that is comfortable when you shake a few drops on your wrist. This drink is given more as a 'trial run' than because the baby is thirsty...
At about 24 hours of age, a baby receives his first feeding of formula milk unless he is being breast fed [sic] and thereafter he is fed every three or four hours for the first weeks. The amount of milk taken at the first few feedings does not matter. Do not try to make him eat more than he wants. Whether you are breast or bottle feeding, try to rest comfortably as you feed your baby and make this an enjoyable time for both of you.'

There are recipes, or 'formulas' for bottle feeding:
First formula:
Evaporated milk ---- 6 ounces
Boiled water --- 10 ounces
Sugar or corn syrup- 1.5 tablespoons

'By the time a baby is three months old, he should be receiving supplemental Vitamin D and probably Vitamin A and Vitamin C in the form of orange juice or a substitute.... the breast fed baby does not require the additional Vitamin C if his mother's intake is good.'

...
'As early as six weeks, the baby may be ready to try solid food -- strained fruit, cereal or egg yolk. Begin with a teaspoon at a time, and mis food with formula to thin it.'

I tell you what - I'd far rather be at home bringing up my children than trying to break the glass ceiling.

Nothing has really changed with childcare - children still survive, thrive, and go orft into the jolly old world and do their thing. 'Twas ever thus.

Did I read that right?

1.5 tablespoons of sugar in a pint of "formula"?

"On now days advice being research based! If that's true how come there's so much conflicting advice out there still. All fashions and fads IMO."

When it comes to the really important stuff - like feeding and safe sleeping, the information isn't really conflicting. Not that coming from an evidence based source.

The advice that comes from sources like The Baby Whisperer and Gina Ford, which does sometimes conflict with 'official' advice, isn't evidence based.

'Tis very confusing.

I think anyone offering advice on breastfeeding (like Gina Ford) should be expected to refer to the evidence base. And their books should be referenced.

math - that formula recipe, you can bet the majority of mothers who used it would swear blind that their babies thrived on it.

But I remember reading somewhere that there was a massive drop in the average IQ of Americans in the 1950's following the widespread adoption of feeding using these home-made formulas....

My granny slept in a drawer, because she was an unexpected twin - imagine not knowing you were having twins until two babies appeared! I don't think they closed it with her inside though.