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]

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.

Sounds like a lot of places in 2014!!

[PurplePidjin]

My mum has a book from the early 80s that suggests you lay the table and prepare the dinner while the baby naps so that it's ready for when your husband comes home

[squizita]

FairPhyllis Interestingly the current NCT and NHS advice that we should be using reuseable nappies DOES cite babies potty training earlier.
And (though you're not supposed to say this on naice Mumsnet) it is an issue nationally (developmentally normal kids turning up to primary school not fully toilet trained has risen - not talking 2 year olds, talking 5-6 year olds. I worked in early years in the late 90s-early 2000s in a deprives area, it really WAS a problem. Mums thought pull ups were pants. Poor kids expected to be changed and the psychological impact of all the others being in normal underwear must have been bad. There were at least 2 per year).

There are also the reasons of cost, sensitive baby skin and environment.

I keep saying it but everyone lumping in reuseable nappies with front sleeping etc' has me a bit as to me it is being pushed as the next big thing by all my MW etc'.
Also, terries have been presented alongside bumgenius etc' at every 'real nappy' session I have been to as a perfectly legit type of reuseable nappy. I strolled into mothercare and bought a bucket kit which was there on the shelf with bright wraps etc'. Clearly people DO use them and they are making a come back.

I do intend to use disposables too though - 'mixed nappying' (which I did get some judgey pants for off the lovely lentil weavy nappy advisor for but pffft I'm a 1st world lightweight).

[IAteSomeofthePies]

I was born earlier in the 70s in the States. My mother was told not to drink. She didn't smoke herself, and was warned not to be around her DM, who did, while my DGM was smoking. She still says with a really martyred air that she never took so much as an aspirin while pregnant.

The doctor told her that she was gaining too much weight and had her on a strict diet of only one hard boiled egg and one piece of dry toast for breakfast and same again for lunch everyday for the last 5 months or so. She gave birth and immediately weighed less than before she got pregnant. She kept saying that I must be huge, but the doctor thought it was unlikely as she is quite small. She clearly still feels vindicated that I was born at 9 pounds plus.

She was induced with a drip after labour didn't progress within 24 hours of her waters going. She had an epidural, which she remembers very fondly!

She bf for about 2 months but didn't really get on with it. Her sister, who gave birth 6 weeks earlier, ebf my cousin for a year and was really active in the La Leche League and my Mom felt lots of peer pressure to bf. Cloth nappies and front sleeping all the way. We were sleeping in the nursery from birth. When my brother was born 11 months later (!) he was in a sling for a while until I could stand reliably and then I stood holding onto the back of the umbrella pushchair while he got to ride.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Mum had us in the early 80s, so a bit later, but she told me about lots of it.

She did the terry nappies and it was a bit eco thing back then amongst NCT types, which neatly covered up the fact the disposables didn't bloody work anyway.

She says there was a woman who came to her NCT class who was ashamed about being pregnant over the age of 30 - the midwife sent her there as they were older mums on average.

The health visitor used to calibrate her scales with a bag of flour before weighing us newborns! (You can imagine how inaccurate this is). Mum claims mothers were treated as idiots and she found it very stressful, but knowing my mum I take this with a pinch of salt.

Pregnancy testing was much less advanced. She never had tests in any of her pregnancies, just went along to the GP at about 2-3 months and he agreed she was. She claims also that women who miscarried before then wouldn't necessarily know about it, which strikes me as very implausible really! Anyone know? In fact I don't think she properly believes you can get a positive test before about 8 weeks as she is treats the idea with some scepticism.

She was offered scans with us (elderly primigravida etc.) but refused as they were seen in some circles as likely to be dangerous.

Her GP seems to have done lots of the ante-natal care, and gave her an unofficial sweep 'to see if that gets thing moving' (it did!) when she came in overdue. No monitoring or anything! He turned up in his dressing gown to the hospital, having been phoned he'd know she was having it. This was on a then new-fangled ward that was specifically for low-risk deliveries and not so medicalised, but that GP must have been worked off his feet!

[LaVolcan]

Pampers themselves i.e. the brand, hadn't come to the UK in 1978. I can't remember exactly when they came. The ones we had before then were absolutely dire - the tabs didn't stick and there was no elastic in the legs so for a breasfed baby the poo escaped down their legs. Then sometime maybe 1979/80 a French brand called Peaudouce came in, which did have the elasticated legs and were much, much better. It was considered very odd to use them all the time though - mostly they were kept for holidays, or days out when you wouldn't be able to cope with a terry nappy.

Birthplans didn't exist back then. I think they were an idea of Sheila Kitzinger's. I think her idea was that they were a stop gap until we had continuity of care.

[GoblinLittleOwl]

My babies were born in 1975 and 1978, both in hospital, and it was generally a good experience.
No birth plans, birthing partners, doulas (?),lists of forbidden foods then;
my body sorted out my diet as I went off alcohol, (never been able to drink Gin since) smoking, coffee and tomato soup immediately, but started to eat Granny Smith apples, green tomatoes and cheese, which I never normally touched.
I was told off by the maternity nurse for wearing cork soled mules ( in case I twisted my ankle).
Had to shave and shower whilst in labour, even though I had already done it at home, and had the dreaded enema.
My husband had to be granted permission to attend the births; mat nurse again, 'I'll decide whether he is allowed in or not'.
Breastfeeding was encouraged but not mandatory and worked for me.
Babies went straight into carrycots then cots in their own rooms from first day home; no problems; certainly no co-sleeping.
Everything to do with babies seemed to be orange or brown: prams, potties, baby baths, changing mats.
Used real nappies and Harrington squares, washed in a twin tub; ugh those nappy pails.
I stayed in hospital for three days and five days respectively, and best of all, there wasn't the terrible pressure to return to work; I had four lovely years at home with them before returning.

[LaVolcan]

LRD - you were treated as an idiot then (mostly, there were some exceptions), and it definitely was stressful.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

LaV - oh, I can believe you without question ... I just know my mum, too!

Something she did tell me that I was shocked by, was the doctor (not her nice GP) arguing with her about homebirth, deliberately getting her angry and scared, and then taking her blood pressure and triumphantly declaring it was raised, so she must be a bad candidate anyway.

Btw just noticed this is in Pregnancy (logically!) - I came to it as it came up in Active, whoops!

[PenguinsIsSleepDeprived]

LRD - I had a miscarriage at just before 8 weeks. Had I not done a test and known I was pregnant, I could easily have believed I had simply skipped a period and been feeling a bit under the weather. I mean, it would have equated to a heavy, painful period, but maybe you'd put that down to having missed one. I can actually believe that people thought this.

[LaVolcan]

Homebirth back then: The first GP's surgery I went to would throw you off their list if you even asked. They wouldn't refer you to the local maternity hospital in the same grounds - even though these would have been better options for many of their patients in terms of convenience, continuity of care and better postnatal support.

(I changed GP after the first birth.)

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

penguins - yes, I know (been there), but I suppose what I find odd is she thinks if you are TTC, you wouldn't really know, and my experience is you sort of do, right? Maybe not if you weren't TTC and maybe you wouldn't be sure, but I don't think it would just happen and you'd never notice, which seems to be what she believes.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Oh, gosh, sorry - I should have said, I'm sorry that happened to you.

[squizita]

LRD often they weren't believed ... i.e. "Dr I think I had a miscarriage, I had pain, blood and a sac thing with tissue" ... Dr replies how can I confirm a MC if we never knew you were pregnant?

There was so much hokum around about MC back then. Some Drs wouldn't count it unless they saw a fetus (not an embryo!) and late losses that even took breaths were thrown out with the mum expected to get on with it (happened to my nan and I can't watch the play "a cream cracker under the settee" without sobbing as it tells that tale. She liked it though: like the play 'told her/her peers' stories').
Plus the reasons cited for miscarriage were woefully tied up in old wives' tales about how pregnant women 'should' behave... ate too much/little, worked, not enough bed rest, had sex...
It was only in the 80s Drs started to seriously understand that most are caused by genetic errors and it's perfectly safe to live normally in most regards!

I have had multiple losses and one pre-7-week one was purely lots of blood and a bad stomach ache. So if you couldn't test before 8 weeks some women would have had that too. Plus if no one talked about it, you might not ask. Even if you knew because it was much worse than a period.

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

My Mum had such a bad experience with my eldest brother she insisted on a home birth for my next 2 brothers. He was born in 1965 I think from memory. Abortion wasn't legal, the plan was to have him and give him up for adoption, however on birth Mum cried and said she didn't want to give him away and her Mum said she didn't have to. My Grandmother brought him up until she finished her degree. It was a scandal at the time, she wasn't married and the father left her on realising she was pregnant. When she went into labour they put her in a ward, told she wouldn't have him tonight and gave her a sleeping tablet. She woke up groggy feeling something between her legs, tried to get up and fell over, another Mum ran to get someone, on giving birth the doctor gave her an episiotomy so big it went up to her anus. It took 6 weeks to heal.

She met my Dad at uni and married and went on to have 4 more kids. Dad adopted my eldest, he never met his real dad and in fact I had no idea he was a half brother until I was 19 and found a document in a filing cabinet.

Home births were much better for her, Dad was there, she ignored the advice and gave up smoking whilst pregnant each time, breastfed us all, and put us on our side to sleep with a rolled up terry's behind our backs to stop us going onto our backs, we were put in the garden to nap everyday, she drank guinness stout and left us to cry it out to learn to self settle at an early age, weaning began a 3 months. She fed us every 4 hours 10 mins on each breast. I was born in 1978 and I'm a twin. She didn't get any type of scan until 21 weeks, I think it may have been an xray but need to check. She had to have a C section with us after having a prolapse after DB3. They told her she couldn't breastfeed twins, she ignored them after 3 children already and did until 6 months, when she moved us onto cows milk with a cup. I'll come back if I think of anymore.

[squizita]

My mum remembers the early dire disposable nappies... but she now calls all nappies 'pampers' like she calls vacuum cleaners 'hoovers' IYSWIM.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Oh, that's horribly sad, squiz. That's really awful.

I know my mum has said that it wasn't talked about. She doesn't have personal experience of it and says that you didn't really hear about it.

[FairPhyllis]

squizita

That's interesting. I didn't know that about current advice on nappies. I did know that there is a problem nationally with kids without SN coming to school in pullups - Mum disapproves of pullups, unsurprisingly.

She said that disposables had just come in around the time I was born and I think she was given some samples to try, but they were pretty leaky so she stuck with terry nappies. I think disposables were pretty expensive then too.

I suppose in days gone by people would have also tended to toilet train earlier just to relieve the burden of washing nappies too. If I have a fling with reproduction at some point I will use reusables.

Other things: from what she says lots of scans (or any) were not the norm - I think she had one ultrasound with me, and that was unusual, but was because she was an elderly (!) primigravida.

Oh and I was 'borrowed' by some researchers a few hours after I was born to take part in a medical study. Apparently she was highly dubious about the group of researchers who rocked up at her bed asking if they could please borrow her baby for a bit, until a midwife said they were legit. So I have literally been doing my bit for science since the day I was born ...

[TeamEponine]

LaVolcan - I was just coming on here to say that my Mum was struck off from her GPs as she wanted a home birth and she had to really search around for a doctor who would allow it. Her consultant also "didn't believe" in scans, so she didn't have one, even though they had just started doing them as routine at the local hospital.

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

Yeah my Mum had to fight for a home birth.

My Dad who is 71 was a twin, the other died at birth and was tucked under the bed for awhile before being taken away, no hug, no goodbyes, no discussions or bereavement support. Awful really. She had awful non progressive labours that went on for days and days. After just two live births my Grandad wouldn't allow her to have more children as it was so awful for her. I am glad how far we've come now.

[squizita]

fair My mum had 5 medical students with clip boards come in to see a natural birth of twins. She didn't mind but did note that when they asked, they'd not given the impression it was a whole seminar group!!

Her 1st scan was very poor quality and they said "I can see 4 little feet" she started to cry thinking I was horrifically deformed. Then the Dr realised and said "No, I mean you're having twins". She went to a pay phone and rang my dad (he'd just finished doing up a nursery for ONE) and he "nearly choked on his full English breakfast" ah the days before cholesterol.

[KinkyDorito]

Definitely guinness/stout for iron. They used to get it on the ward when BF. I know breastfeeding wasn't encouraged as HV kept trying to get my mum to FF me.

Dad was there at my birth.

I was born 1979.

[PenguinsIsSleepDeprived]

That is exactly what you want in labour. People with clip boards.

[MrsMarigold]

chouxfleur my mum and my MIL both used that Adelle Davis "Let's Have Healthy Children". DH thinks his mother's strict adherence to it (too many whole grains before his stomach was ready for them led to allergies). Both of us were breastfed exclusively for six months and I was baby-led weaned using a book called "Feed Me I'm Yours" that has really delicious recipes - all very healthy.

I was born in a third world country and breastfeeding was the done thing. My DM was really considered to be ancient she was 34 when I was born and 38 when my brother was born in 1979. She went to antenatal classes and wanted an active birth but had a c-section with me and then an emergency c-section with my brother.

My DM said contrary to popular belief people knew smoking was wrong and sometimes midwives would ask if the mother smoked if the birthweight was low.

She was also into co-sleeping and we had car seats.

She went to work when I was six weeks old (a teacher) but kept me in stock room and breast fed me between lessons. When my brother was born her own mother died when he was 10 days old and she jumped in the car and drove over 200 miles with two children to sort out the funeral and be with my grandfather and aunt.

[KinkyDorito]

Oh, no he wasn't there!! He says it had all gone "touchy feelly" () and they wanted the dads in and he didn't feel he had a choice. I needed ventouse to be born though, so he got kicked out.