Advice from my baby book.

When I was at my parents' house over the holidays I got out my baby book to show my son.  I learned, among other things, that I started solids at 6 weeks.  I also found a pamphlet on baby care given to my mom by her doctor.  Here is some of the advice in it, circa 1969:

On sleep:  "It is safer to have the baby sleep on the abdomen or side rather than the back." 

On breastfeeding:  "Until the milk supply is well established you may offer a couple of ounces of sweetened boiled water after each nursing...Use one teaspoon of light Karo, or other sugar, to each two ounces of boiled water."

"You may get considerable relief for the nipples by applying a tincture of benzoin (available at any druggist) after each nursing, let it dry for a minute, then apply a little cornstarch to prevent stickiness."

"It is best to nurse him when he seems really hungry.  This will probably be at about three to four hour intervals at first and should gradually lengthen."

On spoiling your baby:  "You will soon learn the pattern of your child and will be able to avoid too frequent feeding efforts, picking up, turning over..."

Apart from feeling a bit mortified at the idea of having downed bottles of water and corn syrup, reading this actually gave me some sympathy for the generation of women (now grandmothers) who just can't get behind things like exclusive breastfeeding, back-to-sleep, solids-at-six-months, or the idea of attachment parenting.  After all, they got the above advice from a trusted authority. 

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Comments

[Kristin]

It'd be really funny if it wasn't true. My mom breastfed all of us (70's and 80's), but thinks weaning should happen at 6 months, and that I shouldn't be a "pacifier", or hold the baby too much. I did summarize "Happiest Baby On The Block" for her, and amazingly, it changed her whole mindset about spoiling babies. Somewhere along the way I taught her enough that she is (eagerly) flying out to attend my home birth in May.

I wonder what changes will happen between now and the time my kids become parents, and what practices I will be appalled at :)

[Stephanie]

It's crazy how quickly recommendations can change in the medical field. I wonder what we're doing now that our kids will look back on with mortification.

[onetinkerbell]

My mother-in-law was told to (and did) use benzoin on her nipples. She said she was told that it would help to keep them from cracking but that it was really painful. My husband, a PA, laughed and said sarcastically, "No kidding!" She still can't believe that I nursed Maeve until almost 26 months and that I'm still nursing Gwyn at 13.5 months. She said that as soon as my husband bit her (with no teeth, mind you) she put him on the bottle.

[Shannon]

I clicked on the document you showed, and was laughing when it said, "Actually, newborn babies require surprisingly little attention." Unless newborn babies have somehow completely morphed in the last 30 years, this could not possibly have been true. You kind of have to feel for the poor parents who set up for a fall with this advice.

Oh, and I just love our grandparents, the playpen generation. When I was chasing my 10-month-old all over the house over the holidays, my grandmother actually suggested I just throw him in the playpen so we could all just watch him play in there. Then she acted like I was somehow spoiling him when I told her he wasn't going to like that idea.

[Jill P]

Advice like this is what keeps me sane when I read the new advice in parenting magazines and listen to the latest medical news. There's always someone saying something is bad for you that a few years later is rescinded or reversed completely. So, it's easier for me to keep doing what seems right and natural for our family (whether it be breastfeeding for over a year or trying to switch to organic foods) without going crazy if it just doesn't work out the way we imagine.

I was always impressed my mother even tried to breastfeed any of us (just my youngest sister) because no one was there to show her how. Her mother had thirteen babies, and only breastfed a few of them for a few weeks.

[mary b]

wow that's some really interesting and awful advice.

[Maureen]

Oh my gosh! That's amazing. I guess it really does show you how "far" we've come...or really, how far BACK we've had to go to get away from this really horrid advice. When did they know it all - the 1800's??