To wonder how we got having a baby years ago.

[IsItSummerYet2018]

This is totally light hearted.
But reading some people on other sites/ threads/forums saying about things for example : perfect prep machine for milk.
Saying how they couldn't live without it. When its 3am boiling up a kettle is a faff etc.
Don't get me wrong it is and time Consuming when you have a crying baby and sleep deprived.
However they haven't been around forever and everyone just got on with it before hand.

please note I'm not Having a dig it's just a general wondering

Can anyone think of anything else that we have now but didn't before... But just can't live without?

Vaccinations

All sorts. I can't imagine not having a tumble drier tondry the mountains of baby clothes, disposable nappies, heck even a washing machine.

We get used to what we have. I bet parents 50 years ago would've love all our gadgets too!

Washing machine...?

When I had my 1st baby (the other two I breastfed), I premade bottles for night feeds, so they just needed warming up, which could be done in a jug of hot water, although I had an electric bottle warmer.

I've no idea what gadgets are available now, so can't comment on anything else.

Cars. Parent and child parking spaces. Ready mixed formula. Baby monitors.

I keep my perfect prep machines for milk in my bra. 😏

Disposable Nappies. They became a huge deal in the US between the birth of my older sister and me and my Mom said women ditched reusable nappies overnight for them.

Car seats. I remember my cousins and me rattling about on the back seat of a VW Beetle.

Disposable nappies.
Wetwipes.
Toothpaste + toothbrushes
Cars
Mobile phones.
Remote control tv.
Central heating.
Underwired bras.
Cutlery...

How many years back are we talking?

Parent and child spaces. Prams on busses.

There were different guidelines (my mum used to make up a day's worth of bottles the evening before for example) and different cultural norms (she had two school jumpers to last all week). Babies had 2 or 3 handknitted cardigans and a couple of homemade dresses: when clothes were homemade, people weren't producing a wardrobe full of garments like we'd expect to have now.

Mine would be supermarket home deliveries - even 10 years ago they weren't a thing, and that's so recent there haven't been massive cultural changes since.

I wonder how people coped with the boredom of cluster breast feeding when there were no smart phones and no TV.

I keep my perfect prep machines for milk in my bra.

Smart phones! I had my 1st dc before smart phones and I've got no idea how I managed not to die of boredom in the early days.

different cultural norms sorry this was in relation to washing machines. Slightly whiffy clothes were way more normal.

Well yippee for you Emma

I was born in '75 and we always had seatbelts in the back - i remember my orange pilot-style belts in our 2cv.

Slightly whiffy clothes are far too normal in my house even woth the washing machine. Damn pukey twins.

Way back then we made bottles in advance so just needed a heat up in the bottle warmer/jug of water it wasn't a faff because we didn't faff about with kettles at 3 am however i have no clue what a prep machine is sounds fancy😁

Wow some of these are fab.. I suppose unless we stop and think about it we would be quite ignorant to how things would of been hard years ago.
I certainly wouldn't of thought of half of these because they are ' just there / just the norm'

Prep machine makes the bottles at a certain temperature for you

With DS I made them in advance for the day.. And I will with this one too.. And I put in microwave lol..

Sky + I can't believe we sat through adverts

There just HAS to be one smug breastfeeder on any thread relating to babies- it's just the law. Well done Emma today it is you

My eldest is 30 and my youngest is 14 so the difference between then and now. No pram spaces on buses, no parent and child parking, disposable nappies were really expensive so mostly used terry squares, bottles were made up once a day to last the day and warmed in a jug of boiling water, no wet wipes I used cotton wool and baby lotion,clothes for baby were much more expensive so had fewer and washed them regularly and lots were hand knitted, fed by the clock and weaning was from 12 weeks, babies weren't seen as a full time job thirty years ago Midwife and HV would have frowned if you weren't both up, bathed and dressed when they visited even two days after having baby.

I'll be having an age gap of 13 years so here's what I did first time round:

Made bottles in advance and fed them room temperature/heated them up
Started weaning at 4 months
Used disposable nappies
Used a pram/pushchair
Left baby to cry if there was no reason not to

What I'm being pressured to do this time round

Get one of those perfect prep gadgets
Wean from 6 months
Use reusable nappies
Use a sling
Have baby on me like a limpet

I prefer how things used to be thanks.

I was born in 1978, we never had seatbelts or car seats in the back of our Maxi. The baby went in a carry cot placed on the back seat and the rest of us sat on the back seat or in the boot.