How were babies raised in the 1970's?

Question

Its for my Child Development homework but i can't find anything out on the internrt..
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Answer 1

With love and care just like now, only they didn't have all the fancy pancy educational, useless toys they have now...I just spent time, doing things with them, loving them and showing them how to be good....it really was much simpler...not so much :"stuff" to make sure they had...

Answer 2

Go to a low-end used bookstore or thrift shop, and you should be able to pick up some outdated baby and child care books for very little.

Parents were less neurotic; nobody thought having a single beer while pregnant would somehow magically damage the baby.

That said, you also got people putting kids in wheeled walker thingies that had a tendency to go down stairs, with the baby in them... Safety wasn't nearly as fashionable, and, yes, no car seats. A lot of standard-issue baby equipment from the 1970s would be illegally unsafe now: cribs with the bars too far apart, too-small toys, tippy high chairs, etc.

In 1975 Canada, a five-day hospital stay for a normal birth was the...norm. Dad may or may not have been in the delivery room; it wasn't common like it is now, but it wasn't unheard of. Breastfeeding wasn't _that_ rare, but.

Re big cars, terrycloth nappies: my parents had a Honda Civic, and I wore Pampers. Lesson: no two babyhoods were identical!

Answer 3

My mum told me:

She was in hospital for 12 days after having me (1974) and baby was in a nursery at the hospital - so separate from her. This meant that she didn't breastfeed: if you wanted to breastfeed they brought the baby to you every 4 hours, and if the baby cried in between the 'topped them up' with formula. This meant that most mums didn't breastfeed as everything was agains't it - you need to feed on demand and be near your baby.

More women were at home with their babaies, childcare was harder to come by and maternity leave was minimal.

Car seats didn't exist so babies were on your lap or in a carry cot on the back seat.

Babies were weaned earlier on solids - they started to give them food at a couple of months whereas it is recommended to start at 6 months nowadays.

Hardly anyone used disposable nappies - they were very new and very expensive. My mum used Terry towelling nappies and a nappy pin, then a horrible crackly plastic pants thing over. You had to scrape the nappies of the poo into the toilet, then soak them in a bucket of a solution of 'nappisan' in the kitchen, and wash about 15 nappies a day. Mnn nice.

People also used to talk a lot about 'nature versus nurture' - some thought that little boys and girls were conditioned by their parents to behave like they do (girls playing with dolls, boys playing with sticks and throwing stones), and some thought they were born like that. Nowadays people usually agree that it is a bit of both - therefore not necessarily my fault that my one year old boy picks up sticks all the time and shouts!!!!

Answer 4

I think that was the time formula was gaining in popularity. So if you did some reading on breastfeeding history, they had a lot of science nonsense back then on the benefits of formula.

Also I think back then, a typical american family had 2 or 3 kids, whereas the eighties had 1, and nineties back to 2, and now we see it going to 3 again (in america)

You could also probably find data of women in the workforce too.

Plus parents had those big old cars, and there werent carseats. Also not sure when it came about that people realized smoking and drinking were bad during pregnancy.

Answer 5

I was raised in the 70's and from what i can gather,there wasnt as many working mums as there are now,so you got alot more time and attention.I was carted around in a silvercross carraige pram that had these tassles around the hood,no rain cover then,and suspension that alot of prams could do with now.There wasnt such a thing as a baby car seat so you got held or put into the top part of the pram on the back seat without seat belts.My mother chose formula milk as she didnt like the idea of breast feeding.Most of your clothes were handmade by a family member who had a sewing machine(which were more popular then)and i still have some of the patterns that were used to make 3 piece outfits,aswell as everybody knitting you brightly coloured outfits and sickening bonnets with feathers around the trim.
My cot was painted white with andy pandy transfers on each end,none of this mama and papa huge things like there is now.
I had a seat for when i was in the house that was metal framed and nylon material(chocolate brown)lovely.
Nappies were terry towelling 3 buckets in the utility room,one for the soaking of the gak!,2 for soak again with bleach and 3 for the final soak in whitener,then into the twin tub for a spin!!!
Toys werent as advanced as they are now,but i remember my metal spinning top that had elephants hand painted onto it.You pushed the top over and over and it started to spin(which wouldnt be safe now!!)
I also had a metal jack in the box that played pop goes the weasal when you wound the handle,and when it popped boy that scary clown still sticks in my head!!There wasnt as many plastic toys either.Building blocks and lots of wooden pull along toys too.
I expect the love and attention you give your children is much the same today as it was then,just the material things you can buy are to the extreme,and perhaps make mums life more easier!!!

Answer 6

I've spoken a lot with my mom about this, as I was born in the early 70s and now have a toddler son.

Parents didn't buy 25 books on raising their kids. They bought one. Usually Dr.Spock.

My son has never had a playpen, but I spent hours at a time in mine.

Picking up a child who was crying was thought to be spoiling them.

Diapers - disposables were new, and nowhere near what they're like now. Now, I can put my son down for bed in mid-evening, and change him in the morning, and he'll wear the same PJs the next night. Then, Mom changed my diaper in the middle of the night, and my PJs too, as the things leaked.

I know I ate home made baby food (pureed and strained then frozen in ice cubes). So, for the most part, did my son.

Breast vs bottle - formula was billed as 'as good as' or 'better than' breast.

Learning to breastfeed - now, you get lactation consultants, midwives, nurses, everyone helping you figure out breastfeeding. Baby usually sleeps in same room as mom. Then? Baby was brought to mom at 4 hour intervals (except at night, when nurses gave Baby a bottle). Baby was left in room with mom, who was told "She's hungry, time to feed her." Nurse then leaves Mom to figure it out on her own. If Mom doesn't, then they top off with bottle, and gradually Baby is a bottle baby. (1968 and 1972 Ottawa, Canada).

Answer 7

Depends on by whom. There were breastfeed, cotton diaper, pick-him-up moms (that was me), and give-him-a-bottle, Pampers, let-him-cry moms.

There was emphasis on safety, but it took a while for some things to be regulated, like fire-retardant pajamas, etc. Car seats were available and conscientious families used them. they made a huge difference, but they weren't as good as the ones we have now (which are probably not as good as whatever they'll have in 2040).

Cribs were regulated, and the 70's ones were safer than the 50's ones, but I guess now they're safer yet. Babies rode in the front seat, (and I still like the idea of being able to glance over and see that the baby's not choking or something.)

I started drinking coffee during my first pregnancy (1970), because the doctor said I shouldn't take Darvocet for headaches anymore.

The best way for babies to sleep was supposed to be on their stomachs, with no pillow. However, I had one who couldn't sleep that way and had to be on her back, and propped up.

Mothers who breastfed often joined La Leche League to have some friends who didn't think they were weird!

Babies had what seemed like huge amounts of toys and equipment, but, maybe because not all of it was made of fat tubes of multicolored plastic, it didn't seem to take up so much room as it does now.

Toys that made your baby smart were a big thing. Mobiles with faces on them, for example, and crib gyms that the baby could do things with.

There was no Internet, no one had a computer at home, phones had cords, you could only watch a tv show, not record it or play it.

Running on a bit, aren't I?

Answer 8

we had terry towling nappies, with rubber pants on top. Hence, babies always suffering from nappy rash. Everything we wore was knitted by some kind of relative. Pushed around in big prams, car seats not invented so the carry cot went on the back seat of he car (if you were luck to own a car). Fed on real home made cooking,i.e. puree vegetables. As my mum always kept telling me when i used to feed my babies jar food "when you was a baby.....". Also they always put babies on their fronts to sleep. This is all i can remember as i was only a baby myself then in the mid 1970's.

Answer 9

in much the same way as to days babies but without all the mod cons we had terry towelling nappies with nappy liners and plastic pants to stop the leakage we had to soak soiled nappies in a bucket with nappisan then wash them the next day that's if you had enough nappies to spare there was formula milk as there is today we didn't have the fantastic slimline prams and buggies that are around today and its just the same as to days mums we just loved our babies and got on with it we didn't know any thing else

Answer 10

I remember there was a lot more violence in the world then, old men with walking sticks were vicious, the guy who pushed the road sweepers cart would tell you off in the street, the belt was still in schools - pretty shi t really