weaning advice from 1939

[Danae]

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Wow Danae - that is really interesing!

and there was me disbelieving my gran who said she didn't give my mother anything but breastmilk until she was 9 momths old! i thought oh what a crappy memory she has. my mother on the other hand bf me, but started solids when i was 3 months old. why oh why didn't she listen to her mother??!

One of my mum's favourite stories is about my brother mugging the cat for the chop bone and happily gnawing on it. He's been a vegan for almost 30 years and she loves to remind him about his carnivore ways.

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When formula became the norm, and babyfeeding became medicalised - formula just couldn't (in those days at least) sustain a baby to their weaning norm, so you had to add orange juice and solids early to compensate.

I just checked my 'The Modern Womans Home Doctor' and it says that weaning should never be started earlier than 9 months, and that you should even delay that if you would be weaning at the height of summer. Its 1920's by the pictures. By the 1940's the "Everybodys best friend' tells me that 'many modern women resent being tied to their babies for 9 months or longer and give up at 6 months. They are foolish...'

That is delightful! I love avoiding east winds and fog - who these days knows where the wind is coming from? Advice certainly changed between then and the 60s - my sister was weaned onto baby rice at 6 weeks (!), and although she was fine, when they did the same for me I ended up in hospital for 3 months in an incubator with allergies and gastroenteritis.

Fascinating Danae- thanks for sharing this!