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?

[squizita]

Chottie interesting... my mum also hails from south London. Maybe it was a London thing?

[singlespeedlass]

I was born 6 weeks premature in 1976. Mum was in hospital for 3 weeks before birth with pre-eclampsia. When she arrived in hospital the matron (who was called Fanny something...!) announced to the whole ward that mum would be trouble because she was carrying a copy of The Guardian!

I was born by c-section after mum went into early labour, and whisked off to SCBU due to low birth weight (sub 3 lbs). Mum was allowed to see me during visiting hours but not hold me for several days due to risk of infection. She was sent home after 10 days whilst I stayed in SCBU for 6 weeks.

[squizita]

MissWimply Yes I noticed that.
I'm a bit of a 70S cultural historian and there is actually a "thing" of representing to 70S as stupid/crass now. I wonder if it causes people to throw the baby out with the bath water (sorry pun).
My mum does get cross when 20 and 30 somethings tell her how her birth must have been and assumes there was no ante natal!
Also stuff like lumping daft stuff (shaving) which we don't do (I wonder how many of us who snort at that get a wax anyway now... For no reason bar cosmetic), bad properly inadvisable stuff (stirrups, forced cuts, front sleeping- though clearly these didn't happen everywhere we assume they did) and stuff which - gasp - wasn't such a bad idea (reusable nappies, mum resting afterwards OK not with a nurse but with DH waiting on her...).
I don't think it's a miracle we all survived. I reckon I 20 to 40 years our kids will laugh at some of the terrifying websites/books we read (and "can I dye my hair" angst), how classes push pain relief as bad leading to maternal guilt whilst some don't tell ftm it hurts, bugaboos and so forth...

But I honestly think just as now it varied widely and just as now some women got great service, others treated badly, some advice was sound, some poor.

[squizita]

Single a friend of mine had a similar scbu 6 weeks ... In 2005.

[17leftfeet]

I'm a twin born in 1978

My mum had to go to hospital 10 weeks prior to her due date for bed rest as her blood pressure was slightly raised leaving her 3 year old with grandparents

She had a natural delivery 6 weeks early with twin 2 (my brother) being a forceps delivery using only gas and air

My brother was in scbu but I went straight to the normal nursery

My mum insisted on breast feeding but all the midwives thought she was bonkers and she was never shown how to tandem feed

The first photo of us in existence is from when we were 4 weeks old when we went home which was the first time our sister met us

[squizita]

My mum does LOVE bump and baby photos! They weren't the thing back then.

Just as well. I was the bright yellow, forceps bruised little twin and my sister looked like something off a formula tin all round and pink! I looked like a chewed wine gum.

[FoodieMum3]

My mum had us around 1980 -87.

Mum didn't smoke but it wasn't frowned upon at all.
Guinness was encouraged, for iron.
Men or any birthing partner were not allowed in delivery.
Mum breastfed but formula was believed to be superior. I'm not sure if that was believed by health professionals or women in general though.
You were strongly encouraged to spend the last 4 weeks of the pregnancy on bed rest. Even now, I'm 37 weeks and mum rings me every day and the first thing she will say is 'I hope you're putting you're feet up.. Are you resting... '?
Women generally had bigger families but all the women in the family chipped in to support a new mum. We went to stay at my aunts for 2 weeks when my younger sister was born. Then when mum had her youngest, she herself stayed at my aunts with the new baby for 2 weeks. Funny thing is, I personally wouldn't like to be separated from my kids after a newborns arrival but then again, they didn't have nick junior and a car to drive to playgrounds etc

[FoodieMum3]

*your feet, not you're (sorry, that always bothers me)

We were all given liga or rusk in the bottle too, very early on, to 'stretch' us at night. Definitely before 12 weeks.

[squizita]

Foodie Yes my mum tales female relatives helping with pfb 'as given'. Not physically removing the child but providing food and respite so you can have a nap.

Perfectly happy with her belief in this regard. She's a great cook and my housekeeping skills are... not up to Mar got Ledbetter standards at the best of times!

[FoodieMum3]

Enjoy it squizita this is my third so I think my mum will have a 'just get on with it' mentality this time. I was spoilt after dd1

I'm pretty sure too that they stayed in hospital for a week or so and babies stayed in the nursery at night so new mums could get sleep.
I must ask her about that actually.

[FoodieMum3]

Oops, I should have stated that older siblings went to stay with aunt for 2 weeks, not the newborn!
I presume the idea was to allow mum to rest and focus solely on baby.

[LatinForTelly]

My mum had us in the early 70s. Lots of these anecdotes sound the same as hers. Mum breastfed both of us, but apparently when my older sister was born, a nurse brought in a whole load of formula bottles and when mum said she wanted to breastfeed, the nurse said, 'you won't manage it'.

YY to shaving and enemas.

I was apparently breastfed exclusively to 6 months because Mum and Dad moved around that time and it was easier and I seemed happy .

My MIL has a fascinating baby book from the 50s. I think it was written by Cow and Gate. It's interesting though how quite a lot of the tenets are the same, though, eg breast is best if you can (even in a formula book).

There is quite a bizarre emphasis on fresh air and airing the room, and the main difference is the feeding schedule. Strictly 4 hourly, and baby absolutely not to be fed between 10.30pm and 6.30am . 'They soon learn'. All of them must have been starving, and some must have been hypoglycaemic. My DS would have been in a coma if I'd done that to him.

Sorry for slight 50s tangent. Good luck OP, and I'm sorry your mum is not with you.

[halfdrunkcoffee]

I don't know but I can ask my mum, as I was born in 1978. My mum was quite clean-living at the time and didn't drink or smoke during pregnancy. I remember her telling me that it took much longer to find out you were pregnant; you couldn't just buy a test from the shop but instead had to go to the doctor after you'd missed about two periods and then wait for them to phone you up with the results of your test. There were no routine ultrasound scans.

When I was born, although my mum had done NCT classes and told the staff she wished to breastfeed, I was taken away and given a bottle. I think she was also made to lie down during childbirth, then had to beg for something to eat afterwards as she had missed the dinner serving (in contrast surprisingly I could hardly eat anything after giving birth, which is unusual for me!) She was 29 at the time and apparently this was considered quite ancient to be having a first baby. On the plus side, there were a lot more midwife visits after the birth than there are now. My sister was born at home 2.5 years later and that was a much better experience.

[LaVolcan]

I had DD at the end of 1978.

Ante-natal care was usually 'shared care'. When your next appointment was due to be at the hospital it involved a two and half hour wait for a 3 minute check up with 'the consultant' i.e. whichever doctor was taking the ante-natal clinic, who contradicted the person you had seen last time. I don't ever remember them introducing themselves. Scans were coming in; I felt that they were just being used for the sake of it, without any real purpose.

Delivery; enemas and partial shaves - the partial shave was touted as a big improvement. Induction/acceleration was very much the routine. The clock dictated what happened in the delivery room. I don't ever recall being asked to consent to anything - if you had presented yourself at the hospital then it was assumed that you agreed to whatever was due to happen to you.

Breast feeding: they paid lip service to it. In theory they believed in feeding on demand but in reality no one really had a clue, but you were expected to do convoluted things with pillows and three minutes each side, and were expected to give water between whiles. Babies were expected to be put down to sleep on their fronts - it was apparently better for the premature babies and therefore it must have been better for all babies. You could choose whether you stayed in for 4 days or 10 days, or three in my case because it was near Christmas and they were booting people out as fast as they could.

In all, the hospital experience was very much a production line (and this was considered a progressive hospital) with ante-natal care being particularly grim and post-natal care in hospital just a series of checks by a different person each time.

Once you got home - a community midwife came each day for up to 10 days post delivery. In my case a she was a wonderful lady called Anne who I still think of with affection.

I abandoned the silly nonsense with pillows and learnt to breastfeed lying down. Ditto with the nonsense about putting the baby on their front.

I had my second at home in early 1981, but not without having to fight for it- a completely different experience.

[LaVolcan]

Ah yes, after that long post, I forgot something. Birth position was 'semi-sitting' propped up on bean bags. This was also considered progressive - until you failed the 'beat the clock' game when it was forceps and stirrups.

[ogredownstairs]

DH's brother was born at home in 1973. Both his DM and the attending doctor lit up a fag straight after the birth...!

[Braeburns]

I was born at the start of 81 - my mum worked up until the xmas holidays as she couldn't return to her job after having a baby (they'd not been that impressed that she continued working after getting married).

She and her baby group friends all read Penelope Leach (she found a 1977 copy in a charity shop and gave it to me as a gift when I had my first). The child development stuff is interesting but the weaning advice is quite different! I think she also read Dr Spock.

Ultrasounds were not standard (a good friend of her's gave birth to unexpected twins!) although she thinks she got one with me as her weight gain wasn't standard (apparently when I was born there was an absolutely massive cord and placenta which explained it).

She had me in the hospital (delivered by her local GP who attended his patients births as was standard here at the time). No shaving or enema but possibly because I arrived very shortly after they got to the hospital. She was expected to stay at the hospital for a week but she hated it - although she was allowed a visit home for an afternoon without me! And eventually got out after 5 days.

With my brother (born end of 82) she was induced - on a ward with several other pregnant women, her GP went home and had to be called back as soon as he got to his practice as she was in full on labour. They still got tea and toast after giving birth.

I thought she had given up smoking but based on her diaries when she is pregnant with my younger brother she did still smoke. She doesn't mention drinking though.

I was a very colicky baby (and poor sleeper until after starting school) and they dosed me with various drugs which are now banned (but were prescribed at the time).

[FairPhyllis]

My mum was pg with me around a few years after that.

She was considered a geriatric prima gravida for having me at the advanced age of 30. She insisted on going to a teaching hospital for my birth which I think was considered slightly eccentric as most people in the area went to a maternity hospital. She didn't drink or take so much as an aspirin during her pg because there had been so much publicity about drugs like Thalidomide. She took folic acid too.

She went overdue and was about to be induced when I decided to make my appearance. She had an epidural (she is a big fan of those). I got into distress during labour and she was about to be whipped off for an emcs when the consultant said, 'actually I think I can get the baby out with forceps.' So I was delivered with forceps. Dad was present for the delivery.

She used old fashioned cloth nappies on me and still says that they are better than disposable ones because babies can feel they are wet. She blames disposable nappies for children not being toilet trained until appallingly late (in her view anytime after the age of 2).

She bf me which I don't think my grandmother did with any of her children. She bf until I was 1.

Her mother told her only to feed me every 4 hours, but she soon discovered that was bollocks!

Oh yes, and the SIDS prevention advice she was given was to put the baby on its side to sleep, so she was very worried that I always ended up turning onto my back - which of course is the standard advice now ...

[moregranny]

Gave birth to a healthy daughter in 1980, didn't have first dr. apt until you had missed 2 periods then took 2 weeks for pregnancy test result to come back , ate hardly anything for first 6 months due to morning /all day sickness, given pills to stop the sickness. drank red wine most days, only a glass, along with salad and mayo sandwiches once I could eat also advised to eat plenty of liver. After the birth advised to drink stout and if wanted eat the afterbirth, raw or cooked !! Baby was laid on front always and remarkably survived living in a house with no heating, ice on inside of windows and a diet of fresh goats milk from 3 months old.

[jaketweeneyistooadvancedfor2]

I was born 1971 and from what mum tells me things were very different. She had no antenatal appointments and didn't see the doctor until a few weeks before I was born. She went to see him as she was having blinding headaches - he diagnosed high blood pressure and told her to have complete bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. Then left her to walk the 4 miles uphill back home.
She had me in a maternity home, said she started labour on Monday and had me on Thursday. She was 18 and left all alone - she'd had an epidural and the midwife gave her the buzzer and told her to buzz if she felt the urge to push, obviously she couldn't feel a thing! In the end she could hear the lunch cart going round and didn't want to miss out as it was egg n chips, so she tried a push and out I popped. She can't remember what I weighed or what happened to me after that but she remembers enjoying her egg n chips!
I was in terries (pampers were hugely expensive) and I was in the Moses basket in the back of the car. I don't know when she weaned me but she used small bits of white chocolate - said I loved it, bet I did!
But the biggest difference in my opinion was them getting a brand new 3 bed council house (they lived with my grandparents) as having to have me in the Moses basket in their room was considered unacceptable overcrowding! Someone from the council came to see it and they had their house the next day!

[1sneezecakesmum]

My two were born in 78 and 81 and smoking and alcohol not mentioned as I do neither! I was encouraged to breastfeed and managed it -through gritted teeth--

I also wore my firstborn in a sling from birth because he was a colicky screamer and both babies co slept, though the HV only said 'do what works'!

I was told to put the babies on their sides to sleep. My SIL who was a lot older than me was told tummy sleeping was safest! Def not back sleeping 'in case they vomited and choked'

Both born in hospital. Very medicalised and not mother friendly. Constant monitoring in labour. Childbirth lying on my back though thankfully NO stirrups except for stitching. grim

A 7 (horrendous) day stay in hospital for the first and just 18 hours with the second.

Also advised Guinness daily for bfing and given iron tablets routinely whether I needed them or not!

[1sneezecakesmum]

I did have antenatal classes and met up with a great support network of mums through them.

[RaspberryBeret34]

My mum had me in 1979, I believe the folic acid advice was just coming in - she was one of the first to take it (maybe a trial?). She was 27 (nearly 28) when she had me and had "geriatric mother" on her notes as she was considered old!

I don't think she had any advice not to drink during pregnancy (although she didn't really). When I was 9 months she drove to see her parents 2 hrs away with me in a moses basket on the backseat (not strapped in at all) and she said I woke up halfway down the motorway and started standing up and she didn't know what to do!

The advice for not weaning till 4 months was just coming in too I believe, she weaned me at 4 months and breastfed till I was 7 months (when I bit her, she screamed and I refused to bf again!). The way mum fed me was much to the surprise of my auntie who was feeding hers - a few years older than me - big bowls of porridge at 6 weeks and they were sleeping through.

[GhoulWithADragonTattoo]

I was born in 1978 my sister in 1979. On her notes my mum was described as an elderly primigravida (or old first time mum). She was 27 for most of her pregnancy with me being born a few weeks after her 28th birthday! By contrast when I had my first scan with DD at the age of 29 (in 2007) I was told my age was in my favour as I was nice and young!