To ask about breastfeeding advice in the mid 80s

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I'm sure most would agree that there's a lot of advice/opinion/etc about breastfeeding out there now.

But on the back of a conversation with my aunt, aibu to ask MN what it was like in the mid 80s in most English hospitals so I can confirm some of her (surprising) statement s?

Was there much support on maternity wards for bf or was formula pushed?
We're the benefits of colostrum in particular known/reinforced?
Would mum's on wards be given bottles easily by midwives?
Would mum's have been given much of a sway between bottle formula Vs bf?
Were pumps available??
Etc

I was born on the 80s and although I've not discussed it as such with DM she has said a few things that have made me realise information was not as good; 1) DM has commented that her boobs were too small (they're a very normal size

Ooppps accidentally pressed post! ...2) she didn't think she had the right shaped nipples. MIL has also come out with things which are clearly based on her experience such as there's no difference to formula.

It was acceptable in the 80's

Breastfed mind 1982 and 1986. For my first I was given help for baby to latch on ( by a male midwife , so I guess my UK maternity hosp was quite progressive) Once I had the hang of it, just got on with it, spend a week in hospital.
With my 2nd no real help. Had lots of extra milk so was pumping, and surplus going to special care.
Once home still had lots of extra milk so carried on donating. I was supplied with sterile glass bottles. Someone came to the house to check it was clean and tidy ( which now I think about it ) I had to freeze immediately and the bottles were collected every week.Again they were destined for S.C.B.U . I can remember feeling quite chuffed I could do that.

Was there much support on maternity wards for bf or was formula pushed?
You were given the information about the options and it was up to you what you did. I didn't want to breastfeed, I told them and that was that. Nobody tried to change your mind.

We're the benefits of colostrum in particular known/reinforced
The benefits were known - we all went to pregnancy education classes and we knew about this. Once you had your baby it was your choice what you wanted to do.

Would mum's on wards be given bottles easily by midwives?
Yes, you just said what you wanted to use. There was a bottle room in the ward, and you just went and got your bottles from the fridge or the midwife brought it to you.

Would mum's have been given much of a sway between bottle formula Vs bf
We went to classes before we had the baby , and there were talks about the different feeding methods. Nobody tried to force you to do anything though - they gave you the information and you decided.

Were pumps available??
Yes, we had pumps on the wards and you could hire / buy one for home if you wanted.

One great thing was that you stayed in hospital for about 5-7 days after the birth. There were lactation nurses going around all the time, supporting anyone who was starting out with breast feeding. So by the time you went home, your milk had come in and you were pretty well established. Which made a big difference. I do think that early discharge denies new mothers the support that they used to get in the past.

NB mine were born in 86 and 89.

i don't know as i am a millennial but DPs mum was told (and did) to only feed every 4(?) hours. she left him at the bottom of the garden in his pram between (also MW advice!) so she didn't have to listen to him screaming! she stopped bf after only a month or two.

I was born in 84 and was breastfed until I was ten months old. My mum was told ten minutes per side, every foist hours from birth. Apparently I just screamed and screamed in between feeds and most of the night, until she stopped feeding me and put me onto cows milk. She says that looking back, I was basically being starved and was screaming due to crippling hunger. She was just told that I was a fussy, manipulative baby, even as a newborn and that holding me or feeding me more would make me more clingy. Awful advice.

My children were all born in the 80's and breastfeeding was definitely encouraged. I was clear I wanted to BF for health reasons - I had eczema as a child and I wanted to reduce the risk of my children having it.

The benefits of bf were certainly known and promoted. Yes we knew about colostrum too. It wasn't the 1850's!!

My mum was a La Leche League breastfeeding counsellor in the 80s and 90s. Our landline was where people in our area were referred on a rota basis for support and I remember she used to spend HOURS talking women through latches, tongue tie etc and just offering support. She’s a legend.

Unsure about the 80’s but this is from 1968

I was born in 83 and my mum told me that breastfeeding was considered the only way to go. She wanted to breastfeed but couldn't, the head nurse/midwife? didn't believe her and kept telling her to keep trying, if I wanted feeding she had to do it - she couldn't.

I was so hungry I had scratched my little face red raw. They would not believe her and a night shift nurse had to sneak formula in to feed me.

In my very first photo I am bright red and angry looking!

I was born in the late 70s, in a maternity hospital. My mum breastfed.

She said breastfeeding meant a private room and better meals! Advice and support was good. Babies were generally taken to the nursery, but my Mum said she didn't want us to go and it was fine.

My mum always said it wasn’t discouraged, but no support or encouragement either. There were pre mixed bottles given out, and they gave her something to stop her milk. Can’t remember the name of the drug now. She stayed in for 7 days and I was brought along to be fed and then taken away again. Apparently I came home on the Friday and was swiftly dropped of at my grandparents’ house and my mum and dad went out on the razz

Oh and another thing was that another lady on the ward had had a stillbirth. They kept her on the maternity ward for the full 7 days and everyone was having their babies brought in and out to be fed, and she just laid there. My mum is a bit of a cold hearted cow, but even she was aghast that the lady wasn’t treated to more privacy and compassion.

Late 70s here, I don't recall ever discussing anything with anyone about feeding or whatever, I worked on the principle of go with your gut, seemed to work! I had the advantage of being abroad so no interference from mothers etc, she was about 5 weeks when they first met her.
The plethora of books amazes me, if Mums just got on with it and stop fretting that your baby is 0.01% different from the next one they, their mothers, would be much happier and relaxed.

I had my twins in hospital in the early 80's. I was encouraged to breastfeed and did get some help. I was in hospital for a week- we were all instructed how to bath and change baby, plus help in feeding. There was no stigma however if you choose to give bottles.
When I went home I had daily visits from a midwife for a week (May have been 2 weeks...) then every few days from the hv. How many first time mums get that much help now?

DS was born in 1986. I was asked at an antenatal appointment how I intended to feed the baby. I would assume that for mums who said bottle feeding breast feeding would not have been pushed. Went to NHS antenatal classes and had a talk from 2 enthusiastic BF mums.

Was encouraged to try BF in the delivery room and on the ward was shown how tto do it right (otherwise I would probably done it wrong!) As far as I'm aware midwives respected mums choices and neither form of feeding was pushed. Benefits of colostrum were known but again not pushed. Bottles would be available for those that wanted. By that time neither tablets or injections were given to dry the milk up of formula feeding mums.

Babies were taken to a nursery and nurses would give babies a bottle of formula the first night so mums could get a nights sleep. You generally stayed in hospital 5 days for first baby or 48 hours for subsequent babies. For a C-section it was 8 days. No Guiness was offered at any time!

I am not aware of pumps being available but might have been on SCBU rather than a general ward.

I think at that hospital about 70% of mums breastfed.

I meant to add that feeding on demand was considered completely normal by then.

i was born early 80s at home by the local midwife(apparently that was the norm in the valleys of wales) so cant comment about hospitals and only going on what ive been told

my mother was 19 when she had me and when she asked for help to BF she was told not to bother as her boobs were to big to start with and breast feeding would make them double in size,she was a DD at the time

i was only on formula for 3 months as apparently i was a very hungry baby so was put straight on to whole cows milk

I had my two in a Scottish hospital in 1989 and 1990. Went home six hours after delivery both times, so not really time for any input about feeding, bathing etc. The babies were kept beside their mums in a clear plastic holder on top of a trolley. DD2 had to be resuscitated by the crash team on arrival and spent a week in intensive care, so I went home without her. The hospital loaned me a pump to use at home for expressing and bringing in.
I’d intended breast feeding both, but never produced more than an ounce of milk per feed, so they both ended up on formula. And thrived!
At the time, first time mothers could stay in hospital for 5 days if they wished, and the midwives would help with feeding, nappies and bathing. But I couldn’t stand the revolting food and preferred to be at home!

That’s utterly heartbreaking theWarOnPeace

I was born in the early 80s and from what my mum said (and from her reaction when I had my own DC) she BF both me and my sibling but stopped at 6 months. In my case it’s not entirely clear what happened next because apparently I wouldn’t take a bottle and wouldn’t eat anything either . Presumably I just starved.

Mum was completely bewildered by my feeding on demand, for so long for each feed and for so long in terms of the dc’s age. So I’m guessing that she stuck fairly rigidly to some kind of 4 hour schedule or something.

But she had at least a week in hospital when I was born which no doubt helped with establishing bf.

My nana was told her nipples were “too leathery” from where her mother forced her to wear a girdle so never even attempted bf even though she wanted to.

I had my two children in 1969 and 1972.Both born by EMCS and went to special care for two days.The first time I was very ill and cannot remember much about the first day.When I surfaced on the second day I asked about my baby and he was brought to me but just to hold for a few minutes. I had decided before birth I wanted to breast feed and told the ward sister that.She looked rather pitifully at me, said well you can give it a try but remember you are still ill.
My baby was very sleepy as well as he had had breathing problems and both of us found it a struggle.I was told I had poor nipples which was a hint to stop but I struggled on painfully then gave up as I was dreading every feed.I had to put a pillow on my knee for feeding as I had the vertical incision and it hurt like hell if I did not.
He was on on bottles when we got home and oh the relief.I was also in the majority then as very few other people were breast feeding
During my second pregnancy I decided to give give breast feeding another go but only if I had not had a ceasarian.
Well I ended up with a repeat of the first birth, baby straight to special care and he and I were separated for two days.A midwife came in on my second night to give me a bed bath (yes you got them then) said to me "You are not going to breast feed are you?" she must have noticed my minuscule nipples.I relied in the negative and shortly afterwards I was introduced to my second son.As I lay in bed holding him a midwife came in with a bottle of milk and handed it to me.
Next day my milk came in my breasts were like two rocks but I still resisted feeding.I told the nurses I was in pain from my breasts and was bound up with a tight bandage and told to restrict my fluids until the swelling went down.Even if I had tried to feed him I don't think I could of succeeded as he turned out to be a very hungry baby always screaming for a feed.
If you breast fed then you were in the minority.The first words my health visitor said to me each time were "What have you got him on?" meaning what brand of milk.Bottle feeding was highly promoted and loads of baby stuff was sponsored by the dried milk companies. The bottle teats had different size holes and no one checked you were using the right size.
Mind I was in hospital for a fortnight each time which was normal after a ceasarian so all stitches out and if you were breast feeding it was established by the time you went home.Now you are out far too early

Not quite what you asked, but friend was born in the early 70's, parents were immediately going on a long cruise after the birth so they were advised to take lots of carnation milk to feed the baby.
And they did!