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Original poster

The things our Mums did when we were babies.........

277 replies

Northerner · 21/05/2004 11:51

Following on from Coddys boiled egg comment!

According to my Mum I had sugered water as a new born, had a crushed rusk in my bottle from 4 weeks, was put to sleep on my tummy and was potty trained by 12 months and walking at 9 months.

Your turn!

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
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popsycal · 21/05/2004 21:32

let me dip my dummy in sugar - although advising that i would get worms...

eddm · 21/05/2004 21:32

Metrobaby, don't give him ideas or he'll be straight down the Ann Summers shop

popsycal · 21/05/2004 21:33

oh and crushed rusk into my bottle from a very young age too

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popsycal · 21/05/2004 21:42

and she drank guinness in pregnancy...
and left us otside in the buggy
and tried to leave ds outside too until i asked her not to...

and gave us soft bolied eggs as an early weaning food

myermay · 21/05/2004 21:59

Message withdrawn

popsycal · 21/05/2004 22:00

and allowed me to have a dummy at bedtime til the age of 7.....pmsl

midden · 21/05/2004 22:09

MIL claims to have had dh and his bro on mince and tatties at 8 weeks. Also have got a seriously hard time for not giving mine juice as babies, apparently she was given free orange juice (in packets, god knows what that contained) from hv for her 2.

Lisa78 · 21/05/2004 22:10

my dad gave me stout every night for years, and I wasn't allowed to sit on the concrete, incase I got worms!??!

popsycal · 21/05/2004 22:13

i wasnt allowed to sit on concrete incase i got piles!!

popsycal · 21/05/2004 22:13

oooh some more

whisky on gums
lying on tummy

eddm · 21/05/2004 22:36

A bit serious, but my mother also told me that they used to inject everyone on the postnatal ward to dry up the milk because breatfeeding was seen as abormal (1969)
That's why she had my sister at home, and breastfed her.

toddlerbob · 21/05/2004 22:56

Dad threw me and my Brother into a swimming pool when we were a few months old to "teach us to swim".

Once they discovered I was allergic to milk they just fed me minced chicken and water.

My mum didn't leave me under a tree whatever the weather: she walked for hours a day in all weathers instead("it was the only way you would sleep". When she had my brother (a good sleeper) she mysteriously put lots of weight on - odd that.

She thinks that "late" (ie normal) potty training these days is encouraged by the nappy manufacturers. She may have a point but I use washables.

Apparently all this being outside in a pram is a NZ thing recommended by a NZ doctor, and putting babies in the colder, damper, foggier UK at considerable risk.

Tommy · 21/05/2004 22:57

eddm - my Mum said that when she breastfeed me (or my brother - can't remember which)in hospitalt he curtains around her were closed so as not to upset the other mothers who didn't want to watch her breastfeeding!

Piffleoffagus · 21/05/2004 23:27

ummm whisky on gums,, well now there is anbesol but in absence of that...
scarred for life my eldest, but shite it works.
Also lying on tummy...
yep with both of mine...
And todbob, agree re NZ outings in pram bieng slightly less chesty on babies than over here...

Ghosty · 22/05/2004 10:56

Toddlerbob ... the 'putting babies outside whatever the weather' was encouraged by Truby King ... who founded the Plunket Society ... hence the NZ link
I remember lighting my mum's ciggies for her ... and at the age of six going down the shop to buy her 20 Rothmans ...
No seatbelts ... all four of us children rattling around in the back of the car on the motorway on the way to our hols ...
Do you remember going out to play and not going home until you were hungry and your mum had no idea where you were but that was OK ... at the age of 7?

eddm · 22/05/2004 11:01

Oooh yes to going out to play, we all used to go down to the stream and thought it was really funny to fall in... and yes to being sent to the shop to by fags, too. If my mother had to go she'd drive, even though it was less than 1/4 of a mile!

eddm · 22/05/2004 11:02

duh, obviously 'buy' not 'by'

Mirage · 22/05/2004 20:52

Eddm,my mum had the jab to dry up her milk,(1968),she was breastfeeding me & donating milk to other babies as she had so much.But she got Mastitis & they wouldnt let her go home until she was better & offered her the injection.What they didn't tell her,was that she wouldn't be able to breastfeed in future after having it & my younger sister,born in 1970 never had a drop of breast milk.

We were both put outside in all weathers,or in the stable if wet.We all used to go out on our bikes to nearby villages,or roam over the fields on our own.We climbed haystacks,played on dangerous farm machinery,swam in the brook.It is a wonder we all survived.

My step grandad used to give us Strongbow cider & dogs chocolate drops too.

eddm · 23/05/2004 09:52

That's really sad about the jab.
Did you ever build hay castles with the bales? We used to make tunnels for crawling along, jump up and down on them, all sorts. Funnily enough I don't remember the farmers complaining or ever being told off about it! Poor kids today, all the bales are circular which is terrible for construction

nellie245 · 23/05/2004 14:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Welshmum · 23/05/2004 14:27

If we had sore throats we had raw bacon round our necks with one of dad's socks on top, fixed with a safety pin to keep the bacon in place. If we had colds we had to put our feet in hot water and mustard, this was followed by hot milk with treacle and black pepper and a really fierce chest rub with Vicks. No wonder I've an aversion to being ill.

rsv1000r · 24/05/2004 07:34

My mother left me outside Woolworths while she went in - did her shopping and went out the back door and all the way home before she remembered!

I was also a Silver Cross left outside baby and I am proud to say that my children also went outside for fresh air in their Silver Cross - well wrapped up of course in colder weather and not when it was foggy.

As regards breastfeeding - in 1965 when I was born my mother didn't want to breastfeed - the curtains were drawn around her when feeding me so she didn't influence the other mothers and the priest was sent to talk some sense into her!

Pes · 24/05/2004 09:17

PMSL at raw bacon - did it work?
We were also left outside shops in pram
And 'played out' all the time returning only for food , rules about where we were allowed to go generally ignored by age 10
My mum told me that I would get polio by eating unwashed tomatoes
Also piles from sitting on concrete
Oh and calamine lotion was the solution to all ills, so we were always pink and crusty

geekgrrl · 24/05/2004 10:36

never put sunscreen on me - luckily I have quite dark skin but I remember some nasty blistery sunburns... She thought (probably still thinks!) that it's a bit OTT. I remember being 13 and going to Egypt - I even said that we should buy some sunscreen but no - my mother insisted that jojoba oil would do the job just fine. I ended up with an awful sunburn that eventually scabbed over. yuck.

hatter · 24/05/2004 10:55

DH used to get taken to grown-up parties with his two sisters, put in the car in sleeping bags at dead of night (so far so good, nothing wrong with that) - but they used to lie his sisters down on the back seat and him on the parcel shelf!!!!!