To believe this? - Is this just an old wives tale? 50's baby routine. My partner thinks I'm stupid to believe mums used to do this..

[NinaJade666]

So I've heard from lots of people that 'back in the day' (specifically the 50's) that new mums were advised to get baby into a strict routine, which involved parking babies in their pram at the end of the garden and bringing them in every 3 or 4 hours for a feed. Crying or not.

My partner says don't be an idiot and believe that, that's just an old wives tale. QUOTE - "They never would have done that. Put baby as far away as possible from mum? In the garden alone? They weren't stupid back then you know."

Anyone know if their parents or grandparents did this or were advised to?
Any links anyone can provide to 'prove' I'm right? Or wrong?

TIA

[IneedAyoniNickname]

My (Czech) family member.puts her baby in the garden for a nap everyday. Tis what they do there.

[Pagwatch]

Hecsy,

I am sure you could walk out but my mother was 18. She had no mother, she was in a new country and she was brought up to do as she was told. She still does everything but genuflect when she gets to the GP.

But we still assume authority in medical/hospital staff. How often on here do ou read 'I don't want my child to have a checkup but how do I get out of it' . How often do people say 'I don't want that prescription'.
We are used to doing what the Doctors tell us. It was just more extreme a generation ago.
That's my best guess (having tried a squillion times to get my mother to refuse/question blood pressure meds)

[redcaryellowcar]

I was born in the 80's and slept in a silver cross in the garden, on my front. Amazing how much advice has changed in 30 years, luckily my dmum was more clued up about breastfeeding and fed both me and my sister, not as far as I know on any type of schedule, but she does recall it was simpler before rules introducing car seats as she could feed on long journeys!

[AuntieStella]

Are there two threads on this today?

I have a 1950s baby manual.

Yes, putting them to nap in the pram in the garden was recommended.

But so was breastfeeding and picking up and comforting a baby whenever it cried.

[LRDLearningKnigaBook]

My dad told me a really sad story about his mother a while back, which she only told him when he was an adult. When she had her first baby, her husband was told he couldn't stay in the room, even though it'd mean no-one was with her. After a bit he went back in and she'd had the baby, and it was dead. And she'd been all alone. After than they both insisted if there wasn't a nurse there when she was in labour, he would be there. I'm mentioning this because that is what it took for them to challenge what the doctor told them, and they had no idea they were allowed to say 'no' to a medic. You've got to remember the NHS was still quite recent (this would be in the 50s) and people were used to doctors who might very well not treat them, especially if they weren't well off.

I don't find it surprising at all that mothers wouldn't feel able to say no to medics.

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

I was born in 1963 in a maternity hospital where the mothers stayed in for a week. The baby was in a cot at the end of the bed and were brought to the mothers when the four-hourly feed was due. Woe betide if you picked your baby up outside of this time - you had to make sure no one was looking!

She does fondly remember being 'swabbed' several times a day; she found it very soothing (ew).

And yes, we were all left on the front step; I remember an elderly neighbour used to ask my mum if she put my DB out with the dog .
He used to give him chocolate and he'd be brought in covered in the stuff!

[JumpingJacks]

The 1950s manual must be fascinating Stella, what else has really changed?

[Earnshaw]

Yup, 4-hourly feeds for me and my brother -he was ff from 3 months because mum 'didn't have enough milk' , though she would have liked to continue to bf . I was bf for a year (I was less noisy in my demands I think).

Aired in the garden like laundry, left to cry, etc. We are in our 50s.

As has been said above, it was a more deferential age. The doctor told my mother that her milk would only come down every four hours, so she didn't attempt to feed us more often.

My MiL said when DD was new-born, 'Did they tell you to feed her 10 minutes each side.' I tried really hard to say tactfully that 'they' don't recommend that now, but she was quite offended. She also had milk supply problems.

[gotthemoononastick]

Glass Evenflow feeding bottles were the ultimate in the 50's.My Mother bottle fed and these did not crack when boiled to sterilize.Oh the high tech!!And gripewater that was very alcoholic.Older siblings pinched this straight out of the bottle,wrapped in a muslin at bottom of Silvercross prams.!

[NinaJade666]

Auntistella - Yes I posted the question in two different topics as wasn't sure where would get the best responses.

[Earnshaw]

I meant to add - my grandmother thought this was a harsh regime.

[HandMini]

Truby King was the big childcare "expert" pre-Spock and he advocated the 10 minutes each side every four hours routine.

[gotthemoononastick]

I had my daughter in the early 70's in a wonderful colonial maternity hospital in Africa.About twenty ladies in a long ward with beds each side.Ceiling fans,Victorian fittings,fearful matron and maternity nurses in starched uniform.You could not find anything more English.

Babies went to the nursery and were trundeled out every three or four hours on a huge trolley with shoebox compartments for feeds.The bracelet put on baby's arm was my immediate concern.You would not dare to enter the nursery.

Everyone cried a lot.We were swabbed and sat on rubber rings.

[Iwaswatchingthat]

I had my babies in 2005 and 2006 and I must admit I used to quite often put both of them outside in their big pram for a nap when it was a nice warm day and they had the insect net over the pram and the hood up. Obviously I could see them and hear them - door open - locked back garden. I felt like it was really good for them and they slept really well. I love seeing all the big prams lined up on 'call the midwife', though it would horrify me now - imagine just leaving your baby outside the clinic for an hour!!! :-)

[turkeyboots]

My grandad built a shelter for their kids so they could be left outside in the NW of Ireland almost all year round.

My mother nearly decked her MiL when she suggested Dad built a similar one for us!

I used to let both DC nap outside in pram (minus the crying) which horrified my mother and amused granny.

[CailinDana]

I often wonder how much this type of parenting affected those generations. How did mothers bond with their babies if they weren't allowed to just cuddle them? My mother is very emotionally stunted and it seems to me that a lot of my friends' mothers (raised in 50s/60s) are similar. Some of it is no doubt due to irish society being horribly repressive but i wonder how much is due to an upbringing that seemed to revolve around meeting physical needs and nothing else. My mother was excellent at meeting physical needs but when it comes to anything emotional she literally just ignores it

[mrsjay]

This thread is making me nostalgic for those large, flat-mattressed, old-fashioned prams... can you still buy them?

yes probably cost as much as a small car though I saw one today actually complete with sun canopy it was gleaming

[mrsjay]

so mine were out in everything except fog

My aunt was talking about this once her son born early 60s was out in al weathers but not in fog as it was bad for the lungs so they just took him into the fag smoked house

[gotthemoononastick]

It is interesting Cailin.Personally I was a 50's child with a very detached but fiercely "meeting the physical and academic needs" Mum.Made me a strong independent little girl who could go to ballet boarding school at 5 and have a career.

I am very uncomfortable even now to be questioning and criticizing what my Mother did,though.

My own daughter questions me often and concludes that i am nuts and we laugh happily about it.

[turkeyboots]

Cailin - I think you are on to something. Add in having a huge number of siblings (9 for DF, 5 for DM) and meeting everyones emotional needs must have been impossible. Being clean and fed was certainly what my Mother's success criteria for her kids were.

[CailinDana]

Of course at the root of this parenting advice is the belief that the mother's real duty was to look after the house and husband, not waste time pandering to a baby.

[loveliesbleeding1]

My middle child had jaundice and was a summer baby of 1996, my midwife advised taking her into the garden in the pram to help, nobody can get to our garden, but I still wouldnt have left her on her own.

[mrsjay]

and I think they had more babies closer together my mum is one of 8 and with all the cleaning cooking and washing there was no time really for babies apart from feeding and changing. my Nan was brilliant though very loving but I can imagine when her babies were little she just had to get on with it, oh and she worked as a cleaner too,

[mrsjay]

I remember dd had jaundice I used to sit her near the window to catch some rays, dd2 was prem so went under the sunbed

[loveliesbleeding1]

8?? Good grief, thought mil was doing well with 6, we are so lucky now, no handwashing, just bung it in the machine and go!