Old advice

[JennyBlueWren]

Just wondering what advice you have heard from parents, in-laws or other generations which would be well out now.

My mum believes babies should sleep on their front as then they have to lift their heads to scream loudly making their necks stronger. I pointed out the risk of cot death and she pointed out that 3 of us survived it. She also took to leaving baby downstairs as my dad would fuss at every sound or movement. No monitors in those days!

She is quite accepting that it is up to us on how we bring up our own children but has said it'll all change again after a while.

My mum bf all 4 of us in the late 70s and early 80s. Saved money apparently!

My mum can't get her head around expensive car seats (she'd chuck the carry-cot on the back seat) or having baby sleeping next to you for first 6 months. We were all in our own room from day 1 because my dad 'didn't want to know there was a baby in the house'......

My MIL was an extended Bfer with all 3 boys as were most of the young mothers she knew, it's a semi rural Northern farming community though which may have made a difference.
She did however express some into a bottle every bedtime from around 6 weeks in order to mix a weetabix in with the milk to get them to sleep through...
My grandma sent me a child rearing handbook from the 1950's that she was given when my Dad was born, I must dig it out and share some gems with you later on. It was by a formula supplier iirc.

Just found it and it's disappointingly surprisingly sensible. It's 'hints to Mothers' by Steedmans teething powders (which could apparently treat thrush...).
Not sure about a baby getting cold causing diarrhoea and the advice to strip your child down at the first sign of sun and send them out to play would have many parents weeping but all in all it seems ok.
It's odd seeing advice on treating diseases we vaccinate against now though, measles, German measles, diphtheria etc.

Class plays a part too. When I went to university all my new middle class friends were horrified that I was bottle fed, I thought everybody was!

My DM was pretty good tbh, she just accepted things are different nowadays. She found some things a bit bizarre but all in all she was happy with my choices. She bf in the 60's and said she got pressure to stop and put us onto carnation milk and water but she stuck to her guns.

My Nanna, couldn't believe I wasn't putting my 1 month old ds on a potty as it's never too early to potty train.

Gembles Class and ethnicity. I often despair at some of the 'middle class' trends in breastfeeding ("you simply must do xyz and wear Boden" type stuff I hear from some I know from my middle class job) when I compare it to how 'normal' BFing is in my family (only 1/4 of whom are English heritage) and down my street (not a posh street, very diverse). There's no lecturing or party line... it's just something very normal (although due to modesty, expressed milk is often used outside the home so it's not apparent how normal it is).
I wonder if that is why my/my childhood friends' parents seem more 'modern' than others elsewhere of the same generation (without being posh or anything): with such diverse influences they must've been aware of more being from a mixture of backgrounds and in a big city, in the pre-internet era of starchy midwives and strict hospitals?

Idontseeanyicegiants I collect vintage books for home life and I must say one thing I've learned is this idea we all ate crap and didn't know how to do anything is exaggerated!. It's the same with recipe books. I have wartime ones which are quite cheap everyday little books - talking about lightly steaming veg for the vit C, and then olive oil 'which is hard to come by' being an interesting topping for a salad. TV chefs would insist no one knew about that before the 60s!!

The interesting thing about the sunshine obsession - in the UK we are now short of vitamin D and it's a hard choice to make because of course sunburn is a risk. In those days, was it safer/harder to burn? I guess they wouldn't have known about UV - but known it was a good free source of Vit D!

Ludways Interestingly a few Asian friends of mine have said when the baby can sit up (so not 1 month but well before potty age!) use the potty as a toy/to sit on when they are likely to poo (in their nappy at this stage) as a game. Just to make it 'no big deal - that's where you sit to poop! What fun!'.