Pregnancy advice in 1979?

[catsofa]

I'm pregnant and my mum is no longer with us, so I'm going to miss out on hearing about her own pregnancy with me.

I'd like to read/hear about what advice was given to pregnant women at the time in the UK, 1978/79. Was anyone here pregnant then? Know anywhere I could find any old books or information?

[2ducks2ducklings]

Zadok my mom was born very prematurely at 26 weeks in the early 60s. She was fed exclusively on un-watered down condensed milk.

[sophiaheulwen]

There was loads of information in the 70's - it wasn't the dark ages. I have a lovely book from that time, simply called, 'Pregnancy'. I used for all four of my children - last one born 1994.
Things have changed in some ways though - I had to leave my own GP and register in another practice in order to have a home delivery and this was in 1985. I stuck my heels in, had two wonderful midwives at home and never regretted being bolshie.x

[CallieG]

I was born in the early 60's, My mother says she was told not to gain more than 10 lb during her pregnancies, ( these days its no less than 12 kg which is 28 lbs she was obsessed with being skinny in the first place so she existed on gallons of black coffee & 50 - 60 cigarettes a day, she was surprised when I arrived 6 weeks early weighing only 4 lb; I spent 3 weeks in PICU. Women then were actively discouraged from breast feeding so it was the bottle from the start which was probably just as well as her diet of ciggies and coffee would not have made for healthy breast feeding.She complained that I was a difficult baby from the start but I was going through nicotine and caffeine withdrawal. Drs had turned pregnancy and child birth into a Medical condition and women were made to feel inadequate. There was the daily naked 10 minutes a day in the pram in the sun for "Vitamins" and the bassinet on the back seat of the car,which was also a carry cot and a bed. I remember visiting my dad in hospital in 71' as a child Dad was sitting up in bed smoking and everyone every where was smoking even the staff!.

[mjmooseface]

Oh wow! What a lovely thing to have to read and look through :) That is so special! :')

[catsofa]

OMG the next few weeks contain pages and pages of what I now realise are notes of which breast I fed from and for how long!

[catsofa]

Thanks so much everyone, this has been a wonderful thread!

I had my booking in appointment this afternoon and I knew I would be asked if anything ran in the family etc, so I dug out my mum's diaries from 1978 and 79 to see if there were any clues to anything.

They're just appointment diaries so not much in there, but there's an entry that says "Baby definitely moving", one that says "10am hospital scan - baby seen!", and on my birthday it says my full name, the hospital, 9.37pm. "Weight 2.960kg (6lb 7 1/2 oz) Epidural and forceps. AB+. Father present"

I had a big cry when I read it. My little tiny hospital bracelet is stuck in there too!

[BertieBotts]

Yes surely before the advent of things like mumsnet, standard NHS advice etc (which isn't universal even now) advice must have varied hugely not even regionally but just based on the experience and beliefs of whoever they were talking to. A bit like now but probably with a lot more variation.

XP's sister was born in the late 90s and she was left in a room to cry herself to sleep as a baby. Conversely, my granny on my dad's side breastfed all three of her children whereas my grandma on my mum's side was told not to and had her breasts bound up in hospital to stop the milk.

[Memphisbelly]

But a lot of people listen to their mother advice on things so surely things from our grandparents generations do or did get passed down?
Leaving babies to cry in their rooms or in the garden to me doesn't seem so unreal when HV's now give you advice on controlled crying?

[squizita]

Bur what puzzles me is that lots of people say their mum did these things. .. yet irl all the mothers of 30-40 year old get and say (as Penguins says ) these are things from their mum's generation. No shutting kids in rooms for hours or leaving them at the end of the garden in the 70s.
Maybe it is a big city thing.
Maybe the (existing) status of he 70s as the tasteless joke decade has seeped into folk memory (I know it has with food... modern trendy food magazines are always insisting things couldn't be bought which were widely available after mid 60s for example ...).

[Memphisbelly]

Yes it was more that they were left out if they cried etc, my mil said with DH he went into his own room straight away and slept through at 6 weeks.....what she meant by this she shut her bedroom door at 6 weeks and didn't hear him cry, this was also done in the day apparently the cold air was was good for their lungs

[Darksideofthemoon88]

Oh ok. Well I wouldn't do that! I'd still be available if she needed me - I just don't see anything wrong with putting her outside even if it's cold so long as she's got adequate clothing on

[PenguinsIsSleepDeprived]

I think the about parking babies outside is not so much that they were outside in a pram. It's that, at midday they were parked there, and ignored until 2pm. No. Matter. What.

Though that's older than 1979. It's what my grandma tried to tell my mum to do with me.

[squizita]

Darkside Ah but it's from the 'olden days' so it MUST BE BAD!!
I'm mystified by the repeat "OMG terry nappies" tone of the thread.
My stock of terries and bumgenius reuseables come from brand spanking new modern lentil weaving bump and baby sales/meetings and are marketed as the new environmental/money saving 'thing'. They must have missed the memo!

Bar the obvious risks such as lack of car seats and tummy sleeping, some of the "how ARE we still alive" stuff is a bit OTT too when aimed at everything not just things we know are dangerous. Some things (how everything wasn't pink OR blue for example) are actually quite healthy now.

And did you know on a rival mummy website they're campaigning for mums to be kept in hospital longer once again...? Not sure about that one...

[tipp2chicago]

Darkside, the cast is now known as a Spica Cast. I was only in it for nine months as I developed an allergy to it. Thankfully, I was ok by that stage. My brothers didn't have to have it, and my sister wound up in double nappies to keep her legs in the correct position, as she had a very mild form of "click hips".

The paediatrician in the Maternity was most put out when I made him check DD for it on the checkup on the way out. And twice as put out when I made him refer her to the specialist (who was lovely and so so kind). Thankfully, DD doesn't have it and was perfectly fine. She wasn't too impressed at having to lie still for the x-rays though!

[mathanxiety]

Hip thing happened to a little relative of mine two years ago and she had a harness with threat of the cast if the harness didn't work.

[Darksideofthemoon88]

I don't see anything wrong with putting babies out in the garden, assuming you're nearby and can keep an eye on them! My parents did that with me - apparently I used to like watching the birds and I plan to do the same with DD when we move to a house with a garden.

[vezzie]

all this being put out in the garden was probably a good thing with all the smoking going on.

[Mumstudentbum]

Mum had me in 84. She was two weeks over so induced and had epidural. They told her not to stop smoking as it would be too stressful and was in hospital for 10 days. Dad wasn't allowed at the birth so gm stood in.

Mum bottle fed as doc lifted up her breast and said 'it's just water give her a bottle' how the hell he knew just by that I don't know. She was given tablets to dry milk water up.

I was brought home in a carrycot on back seat and slept in my own cot from day one. There's a photo of me in mums arms at 3 weeks old and dads stood behind her with a cig in his mouth! I was often left to sleep on the sofa and put out in the garden by my nan for the morning for fresh air lol

[BertieBotts]

Pavlik harness these days. Don't know if it's a new thing or just a new name.

[Darksideofthemoon88]

Oh good grief - do they still do that? Sounds awful!

[callamia]

Frog casts are for babies with hip dysplasia - dislocated hips usually from ball and socket joints not quite developing as they should. Baby is enveloped in a player cast, with their legs in 'frog' position for a number of months while it corrects.

[Darksideofthemoon88]

Tipp2chicago: What on earth is a frog cast???

[LaVolcan]

Back in 1978 my hospital prided itself on keeping women 'fully informed'. Well, they didn't do this in a lot of cases, but note that it's telling you what will happen - not a discussion between you and your care givers.
We accepted it too - that was the way it was.

Over the next couple of years the big issues seemed to be saying no to routine episiotomies, shaves and enemas.

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

I forgot to add my mother has never to even once discussed or made any reference to her pregnancies or labours,you would think we just magicked ourselves here fully grown