Old books that talk about potty training in the past

[RedRobyn24]

This is very niche but have you ever come across a book which talks about potty training, perhaps within a story not as the main focus of the book, that was written perhaps between the 1930s and 1970s?

To be honest I would be genuinely interested to find out more about how families and particularly women parented in the past, if you have any book recommendations please

Back in the 70s it was Dr Spock and Miriam Stoppard that we read. Babies were in terry nappies so there was quite an incentive to get them potty trained by the age of 2 and most children were, at least during the day.

I have both my Grandmother's parenting book from the early 50s and my Mum's childbirth book from the late 70s - both are fascinating but I'm not 100% sure where either are at the moment so can't remember who either of them are by.

I think the 1970s one was called The New Childbirth or something like that and the one thing I do remember from it is the advice not to drink too more than a couple of cocktails during pregnancy, not because it might be harmful to the developing foetus, but the main risk being getting pissed, falling down the stairs and doing either yourself or the baby harm that way!

The 1950s one definitely was VERY prescriptive on exactly how many of each and every item of baby clothing that was needed and there were a lot and lots of layers involved!

I must go and try and look them out as they were a fascinating snapshot of how childbirth and parenting had changed even in 25 years between them.