Sorry - very long
Dd 17 next week. SO much has changed I won't have a clue when it comes to her having babies.
Via friends and family what is new to me that wasn't around when dd was a baby:
Perfect prep - I didn't bottle feed until dd was almost 9 months (NOT a judgment on ff mum's just what I happened to do, didn't take Emma's comment as smug either just funny) but when I did it was still deemed ok to prep 24 hrs of bottles ahead of time and store at back of fridge. I tried a bottle warmer but found it REALLY slow and faffy, much easier to stick it in a jug of just boiled water, I took a flask of boiled water to bed for her one night feed. The one thing I REALLY envy is ready made milk cartons. When I saw a friend use one on a day out...oh I'd have LOVED them when dd was a baby.
Way more choice in bought baby/toddler food/snacks now. At home happy to make my own but when out and about, especially if you ended up out longer than planned, it was a pain poor dd often ended up getting really boring things like plain bread rolls
Soft play - these were fairly new when dd hit around age 2 where we were at the time - total godsend for wet weekends
Nappy genie - wish I'd had one they were still not the norm and quite expensive when I had dd.
Chicco next to me - I'd have LOVED this, we co slept but ex was a starfish and this would have made me less stressed
Baby monitors are much better now the technology has really come on. Ours (which was a good brand and model) wasn't very sensitive and sometimes just didn't pick up at all. No video just sound and not a great range.
Suction bowls/plates - again would have been great to find really good stubborn ones dd was a bugger for just flinging when she'd decided she was finished
Slings seem better now, less back breaking.
Bouncy chairs that vibrate/bounce without mum having to operate 😂 I swear I had one leg more muscular than another for a while due to using my foot to bounce dd to settle her when she was teething (it was the ONLY thing that bloody worked)
Something I don't understand - the constant changing of prams/buggies. Modern ones are suitable for wide age ranges yet mum's now seem to sell and buy a new one every 6 months? Is that just a thing where I live though I wonder. Also there's such a huge choice that it's bewildering. I had a travel system when dd was tiny but really it was a waste of money for the price. Best was umbrella buggy from mothercare I got for a holiday was brilliant and used loads - cost £15!
Dds "pram" thinking about it was probably 1/3 of the size of mine - she was 5lbs heavier at birth! 😂
"I brought a pram in 'last seasons' colours - pure snobbery round prams these days" yes! I don't get it at all!
I'm 45 when I was a baby my parents:
Used terry nappies
Prepped bottles LONG in advance and used bottles that had been at room temp or warmer for hours if out and about. Sterilising was either boiling in a pan for hours or using the "modern" Milton fluid (when they were flush)
Used a silver cross pram - mum walked MILES as they'd no car and there was no way she could've got it on a corporation bus 😂
Weaned around 6 weeks I think (mainly porridge)
Brought me home from the hospital in a carry cot loose in granda's car
Did blw without realising - they just gave me whatever food they were eating without doing more than maybe mash it a wee bit, but certainly there are pics of me holding and chewing on various bits of vegetables inc raw potato
Didn't buy toys especially for teething but gave me wooden spoons and similar to gnaw on.
When bro was born when I was 2 I was bumped out the pram he went in and I was in reins - attached to the pram 😱
I slept in same room as my parents but not same bed until almost a year old, but that was because they were living with my grandparents and there wasn't anywhere else to put me! 5 adults, 2 DC (my uncles) and a baby in a 2.5 bed tenement. Also drowned under a mountain of sheets and blankets.
That reminds me - there's pics of my grans after I was born and she's still got a wringer and washboard!
Dad wasn't at any of the births as he was working, when my sister was born he wasn't even in the country (army) mum had one of her sisters come stay to watch me and bro when she went into labour so she had nobody with her at the actual birth for that one.
As I was the eldest my siblings and cousins got it even worse as I was around giving them food far too young, flinging toys at them, trying to give them bottles etc unless an adult spotted and dived in with a "nooooooooo" 😂
"Sometimes I wonder how we managed 35 years ago without ovulation monitors, pregnancy POAS, scans, diagnostic blood tests, waterbirths etc" my mum had no idea she was pregnant with me till almost 4 months (this also meant a VERY hastily arranged wedding), similar with brother, but struggled to conceive sis (there may have been higher powers giving her a hint there) but this was pre Ivf etc and she was just told to "keep trying" and obviously it happened eventually.
"I think it’s made out as if you need a billion things for a baby when you don’t." Definitely, personally i found baby bath, sling, mini food processor thingy, bottle warmer - all a waste of money.
"My Gran had 12 kids, she used Terry nappies and washed all clothes and nappies by hand in the tin bath tub outside." One of my granda's was the eldest of 14 (that lived) the whole family in one room outside toilet etc - cannot imagine it must have been SO hard.
KNain - yes there's hardly any pics of myself, siblings and cousins but THOUSANDS of pics AND vIdeos of our DC.