Swaddling - good or bad?

I don't know what I would have done without my pram, babies were placed in the garden where I could see them from the kitchen window.

I think swaddling is still the way to go in a lot of mainland Europe... and how I empathise with specki4eyes and nightowl about the putting outside to have a nap: modern mums would have an epifit at the amount of babies being left outside supermarkets while we did our shopping in the 60s and 70s.

My daughters did put the GC outside in the garden for a nap, mainly because they had decent prams rather than flimsy pushchair things so popular today - mainly for mums convenience, rather than the comfort of the baby - no wonder so many are fitful sleepers.

My three loved laying in the garden under a tree watching the leaves or blossom dancing around - sent them straight off to sleep.

I had a high coach built Silver Cross which I bought from a friend for £5. My DD1, my nephew and DD2 could all fit in it, plus a pile of shopping on the tray underneath. It was a joy to push and I walked many miles with it - I didn't learn to drive until I was 26 and we had a folding pram for when my husband took us all out.

After advice from my mum over 30 years ago my first born was swaddled and he was put outside in his pram, used to put him under the line of washing so he could talk to it, swaddled my next 2 children and passed the advice on to my daughter after my husband and I had to do a mercy dash at 11 0' clock one night because they couldn't get their new born asleep. Needless to say Granny wrapped her up, jigged her about a bit, and silence. Agree nightowl about pushing babies outside to get some fresh air, but with tumble dryers now there's no line of washing to talk to!!!!

I lived with MIL when I had my babies, in the upstairs flat , it used to so bug me when I'd put the babies in the pram in the garden and then 10 mins later I'd find she'd gone out and lifted them and was sitting in the living room cooing and what have you... ggggrrrr!! I'd forgotten how mad I got lol.

Yes yes - all my babies were put out in my large, cozy pram for daytime naps. Lucky for them (and me!) they were born May and July so reasonably warm and tree blossom or leaves to amuse them. It would never have occurred to me not to put them outside if the day was dry.

I also walked for miles pushing my DD asleep in the pram with my 2 year old DS sitting on a pram seat whilst taking two setters for a walk on their leads! Certainly got me fit and helped to lose those pregnancy pounds!

Had proper prams for both mine...they were considerd old fashioned then, everyone was going in for buggies and car seats (30years ago) but I found them so usefull. The were great 'day' beds as well as play pens, the baby strapped in with a few toys - they were up at my level so I could get on with tasks and still natter to them.

I lived with my Gran and aunt before the war, and just into the war, and I was responsible for taking my young cousins out in their pram(s) Not something advocated today, but that is the way it was. My gran always insisted on swaddling the infants, and told me to make sure the back of their necks were nicely covered, as in that way they would always be warm - that does work, as if I am chilly, I often find a scarf round my neck solves the problem. My children (1950's) were swaddled, and put in their pram out in the fresh air. We lived in a downstair flat, and had a small balcony giving a lovely view of the oak tree on the small green. Both my children love trees, and I wonder if the reason for that is they watched the leaves and shadows through the seasons.

Greatnan, DS's problem was/is he is a worrier - and still is. He was born worrying about whether he was loved and wanted. When DD arrived, he wasnt jealous but terrified that now she was there he would have no place in our affections, but I didnt get off easily. DD was born believing that all the world was smiling - and revolved round her - and if it didnt she would make it. I used to say that only one of us would reach her 18th birthday. She is nearly 40 and I am still here. However she has chosen to remain single because she says she is too uncompromising to ever successfully live with anyone, and she is right. - maybe I should have swaddled her after all.

My dear old sadly departed Mum used to love to tell me the story of how, when I was a baby in the deepest, coldest winter of 46/47, she would put me out in my pram when the snow was so deep it reached the top of the gas lamps. She advised me to do the same with my wintertime babies, so I did! Also, who remembers those lines of whiter than white nappies, stiff with frost? And they smelled so lovely and felt so soft when finally we aired and folded them. Would we swap that for shed loads of Pampers and centrally heated daytime naps? I don't think so.

You should have seen the look on my DIL'S face when I innocently asked if she'd got a cat net! I have learned to button my lip!

all my children had afternoon naps outside in the pram even when it was quite cold and all of then have been fantastic sleepers with very few coughs and colds. What is the difference between them falling asleep while you push the pram around the shops or being put out in the pram (in a secure space) for a nap?

I seem to remember that one laid a baby on its side (changing sides periodically) Safer if it vomited. This was sixty years ago. Babies had proper prams and were put outside to sleep or watch the world go by. Fresh air was important. My daughter had to rturn to hospital for a short spell and I stayed home going back to the hospital every four hours to feed her. When she came home I think it worked out about every three hours. In between feeds one gave them spoonfuls of boiled water if they were thirsty. Never had a bottle. Interesting how thery all seem to survive whatever the in thing is.

I had my two before prams were phased out in favour of car-friendly buggies. The lovely feeling as I tucked in the baby, adjusted the cat net and the canopy, and left him under the tree in the garden. He is now a county forestry officer! We were always advised to get fresh air for babies every day, and with a pram it was easy to get the shopping in the empty space under the "boards", too.
Did we always take babies out as soon as they were born, though? I often see fairly new-born babies being wheeled around Asda in the trolley, exposed to all those germs, and can't remember what I used to do about shopping.

Went out with baby in pram after a few weeks but did not visit anyones house until I had been churched 6 weeks after the birth.

This has brought back many happy memories.I had a coachbuilt Marmet pram which lasted through both my two babies.DS1 was a winter baby and he was often tucked up in the pram outside in the garden, and came to no harm.DS2 was a summer baby and he would lie outside in the pram with the canopy and cat net on.Trouble was he was a screamer and I would often have to bring him in as people would knock on the door to tell me the baby was crying after 15 minutes.You could leave them outside shops in complete safety then.Where I live in the north east it was the custom to give new born babies silver coins for luck and I would often find a small collection in the pram!.
I can remember swaddling them they were born 1969 and 1972.My mother who had five children, must not have swaddled us as she said we all lay with our hands above our heads and my grandmother told her this was a healthy sign.
I never used pillows for mine either, they just lay flat.

When my daughter had my GD she was right into swaddling and I thought it was a bit strange, but it did settle the GD down, and even when she was older (a year old or so) if she was unsettled out would come the blanket and she'd settle immediately.

How does one tell if a tiny baby is thirsty? I don't think breast-fed babies need water. Mine never got any anyway and they were all (and still are) healthy.

All babies need water, breastfed or not. Milk is food not liquid and babies get thirsty the same as the rest of us.

How does one tell they are thirsty though? If mine cried I stuck a nipple in their mouth. It worked. Breast milk is not always the same consistency. It thins as the feed progresses. I'd always understood that that supplied the 'watery' part. In any case, it did with mine. Evidence, in the form of my experience of three healthy babies who were not given water, suggests that breast milk is all they need while it is their sole source of sustenance. Once they're on solids, it's different. Anyway, milk is largely water so the baby is getting fluids.

So, I repeat, how does one tell if a baby is thirsty if it seems just fine and dandy on breast milk?

My daughter is a champion breast feeder and she tells me the consistency of the milk changes .....explains why I can remember offering her water during her first summer when I thought she might need more fluids....she would always refuse and then take what seemed like gallons off me!

My gd is only just starting to have water. She is ten months old and still on breast + whatever mum is having! I have instructions not to make the chicken curry for sat when they visit too hot or salty because dgd might want some! I think I'll make two currys, I like mine HOT. I make it from my own , not bought, spice mix and fresh chillies!

That's what I found Hilda - breast milk is sufficient. If a baby is dehydrated, their fontanella becomes depressed, but a thirsty baby will just carry on nursing till they're no longer thirsty, and demand more within an hour or so if they just need another drink. You get to know your own baby and breast milk meets all their needs, fluid-wise in the first few months.

DD1 always does curry from scratch too. As she says: three hours to make it and five minutes to eat it!

whenim64.....ah yes I remember the bit about the fontanella now......ooer it comes flooding back, but I still would not like to have full time care of a new born now.........you sort of just get on with it when they are your own....but when they are someone elses, even your own GC - its too scary for words.

Harrigran, no-one picked up your mention of being "churched". My own gran told me she had to stay in until six weeks following the baby's birth, when she was churched and therefore ritually cleansed of the birth procedure. Sounds so archaic now, but it probably had a practical as well as spiritual purpose e.g. were sexual relations prohibited until after the six weeks? Would it prevent new mum from tiring herself out with social obligations? Does anyone else have experience of this, and does a similar rule exist in other religions?