How did we all survive?

It was all SO last century….

I must have read all the books on baby care as a new mum. Some were ok. But for sheer entertainment you couldn’t beat the really old ones. And there have been some pretty whacky ideas out there at times.

I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the mainstream advice given back in the 1950s. I wasn’t a mother myself at the time, but I do have a handy book called The Care of Young Babies which first came out in 1940. I have the fifth edition here.

Fresh air seems to feature a lot in this book. Leaving the baby out in the sun is encouraged. Another idea is ‘air bathing’. (Yes, I know. I hadn’t heard of it either).

What you do is, you strip your baby down to its nappy, stick it in the pram, and leave it out in the fresh air to wave its healthy young legs around. Preferably outdoors in all weathers by the sound of it. But if the weather is very bad, indoors next to an open window.

And if not actually snowing, outside the open window.

This is me in my pram. 
Thank goodness my mum has left my clothes on.

Now, that’s what you call a pram!

All the advice seems hearty and no nonsense. Fresh air and exercise and all that.

Very bracing.


What a wholesome approach! Written, of course, by a man. A man who knows he is right and is going to tell mothers what to do.

But there is a chapter for the new father

This is Father with son. I’d be worried if that baby was mine. Just look at that guy’s face. What is he about to do with the poor kid? (I've edited this picture - I don’t want to get arrested. No such worries in those days it seems.)

And dads, you should be growing vegetables for your family. You don’t want to eat that rubbish you buy in shops.
Hang on, some of this advice sounds quite up to date.

They didn't pull any punches in those days.
 If your baby wasn't sitting up on its own by seven months, then ‘you may find that he is fat and gross, a great lubber of a boy...’

 No offence!

Spare a thought for the mums of the 50s. No disposable nappies for them. They were lucky if they had a washing machine.

This is what they had to do with nappies…..

“Wet napkins should be put in a covered pail of water, dirty napkins into another pail with disinfectant. The wetted ones should be washed, rinsed and hung up to dry. Dirty ones are shaken over the W.C., scrubbed under the tap with a hard brush and soap, left soaking for some time in cold water and washed out in a good lather with soap or soap flakes. Rinse them thoroughly in several changes of clean water, then dry them and let them air thoroughly. If you can, have a proper wash tub in the scullery and wash the napkins there. Leaning over a bath is back-breaking work…” -  You don't say!

But when it comes to discipline, you don't take any nonsense...

 ‘Many babies will stop crying at once if you say firmly: “Stop that horrible noise at once. I won't have it.”

Really?

Tell that to my mum.

This is me and my Mum.

She hadn’t read the books.        But then, she didn’t need to.

Well done Mum! Three well brought up babies to your credit.

Moo