Looking for information on infant feeding practices in the 1970s/1980s.

[FrankiR1942]

Hello! I am a Masters student conducting a study on infant feeding practices in the 1970s/1980s. If anyone knows any information on this, or would like to participate in a brief interview for the purpose of my dissertation, I would be greatly apprecitaive! I am looking to interview people who were involved in the maternity field and/or new mothers within the 1970s/1980s. Thank you!

I presume you've already read this?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5bab9bceed915d258451709d/Present_Day_Practice_in_Infant_Feeding_-1980__1980.pdf

Also the infant feeding survey goes back to 1990 I think so that might have some information about the late 80s if you can get a copy of that. The document I shared above mentions a similar report from 1974, so there might be one for 1986 too.

This is from the document published in 1980:

2.9 The overall incidence of breast-feeding, defined as the proportion of babies who were put to the breast at all, increased from 51% in 1975 to 67% in 1980. In both surveys there was a higher incidence among mothers of first babies, those educated beyond the age of 18, mothers in the higher social classes, those living in London and the South-East and those who were aged 25 or over.

In 1980, four-fifths of the mothers who had started to breast-feed were still doing so at two weeks, almost two-thirds at six weeks, two-fifths at four months and one-third at six months. In mothers who had previous children, a history of breast-feeding the first baby for a short time only was less of a deterrent to trying again than among such mothers in 1975.

In both surveys, mothers who breast-fed previous children were more likely to continue breast-feeding up to four months than mothers of first babies or those who did not breast-feed their previous children. At least 28% of six week old babies and 14% of four month old babies received breast milk alone in 1980 compared with 12% and 1% respectively in 1975.

2.10 The proportions of breast-fed babies receiving artificial milk feeds at six weeks and four months in 1980 showed no significant differences from those found in 1975.

In 1980, 55% of mothers introduced solids by the age of three months and 89% by four months compared with 85% and 97% respectively in 1975. Rusks replaced cereals as the most common first foods.

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(Unrelated ponder - I wonder when the practice of hyphenating words went out of favour.)

Can't help with personal experiences as I was one of the babies being fed My mum breastfed me for about 6 months and then when my sister was born she didn't feed her for as long because apparently she was too nosey and wanted to look around the room all the time.

I have an American cookbook published in 1976 that has a section on infant feeding in the back.

The section begins:
"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 3 ounces of water... into a bottle. Add one tablespoon of sugar and shake gently to dissolve. Put the nipple on and boil the entire bottle and contents for 10 to 20 minutes...

...At about 24 hours of age, a baby receives his first feeding of formula milk unless he is being breast fed, and thereafter he is fed every 3 or 4 hours for the first weeks..."

It goes on to detail 'the formula' for reconstitution the evaporated milk, which was done according to age. This is where the word 'formula' is from.

First Formula was -
6 oz evaporated milk
10 oz boiled water
1.5 Tb sugar or corn syrup

Or
12 oz fresh whole milk (boiled)
4 oz water
1.5 Tbsp sugar or corn syrup

This was to be divided into 2 oz bottles, increasing volume in bottles until the 5th or 6th day until baby took 3 ozs at each feeding.

Later Formula -
10 oz evaporated milk
15 oz water
2.5 Tbsp sugar or corn syrup

And
13 oz evaporated milk
19 oz water
3 Tbsp sugar or corn syrup

Figures for dairy for Later Formula -
20/ 26 oz milk
6 oz water
2.5/ 3 Tbsp sugar or corn syrup

The advice was to gradually stop the 'formula' when solids were introduced, ending up with 1:1 reconstituted evaporated milk or whole milk, with no sugar added.

Solid Food -

"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 mix food with formula to thin it...Avoid making an issue of getting food into the baby and try again the next day [if baby rejects solid food]...
... Soon after becoming accustomed to fruits, cereals, and egg yolk, the baby will be ready to try strained vegetables and meats. Hard toast and zwieback should be introduced when the baby's first tooth appears..."

It's a wonder any of them survived.

I'm not sure when this advice was originally compiled. The Settlement Cookbook was originally printed in 1901, and recipes were added and deleted in the many later editions over the years.

My own edition was from 1976 and this infant feeding section was possibly well outdated by then, though my exMIL took it as a given that my DC1 would be fed evaporated milk/water/sugar, with orange juice to counteract the inevitable constipation, in 1990.

She had her family in the 50s and 60s.

Zweiback!! They still sell those in Germany in the baby aisle. My children don't like them though, they are basically tiny, very very stale slices of toast which have been soaked in some kind of sweetened mixture. Really hard and surely would scrape your gums rather than soothing them. I suppose they used them like rusks going by that description.

I definitely had those "magic" toy baby bottles to feed my dolls, one with milk one with orange juice, in the early 90s.

They used to sell zwieback here when my DCs were small, and I bought a packet to see what they were like. The DCs sucked them and gnawed on them. I thought they were a bit sweet and not great for teeth, so I switched to frozen bagels.

The only book my mother had was by Dr Spock.

Nothing to DH with Star Trek.

I don't think there was anything else used in those days, you just asked your mum or older sister what to do with your baby and they told you.