What was it like, when you were a mother to a small baby?

It has been fascinating reading all these accounts of bringing up babies through the years, have really enjoyed reading them. They have brought back so many memories too....I do remember how happy I was just to be looking after my three, especially the first, going to a beautiful park nearby and just playing with her or reading while she slept in the pram. She was born in October 1976, so I was carrying her throughout the heatwave of that year - I have never felt so hot and uncomfortable. I was a nurse and there was no maternity leave or maternity uniforms either, I had to make a couple of dresses myself or wear a massive white lab coat! Such happy times though, we had no spare money, interest rates were about 17.5% as I recall but we just coped.

Skinnylinny, that’s exactly what I did when I took my first daughter out for the very first time! Went into the chemist, leaving her asleep in the pram outside, and completely forgot I had a baby - only remembered when I got home! Was so panicked, I ran all the way back...fortunately all was well though!

I had my first baby in 1969 and had to give up work because there was no childcare that would work with my hours.
I was in hospital for ten days and then returned to a little cottage with just one coal fire for warmth. I had no washing machine so the terry nappies and all clothing was washed by hand and hung from the kitchen ceiling to dry.
I had a large second hand pram and walked everywhere, no problems losing the baby weight in thos days.
I spent all my spare time knitting to keep up with a growing baby and most other clothes were gifts from family.
DH drove taxis on an evening, after his day job, just to keep the wolf from the door.
We had very little of anything but we had each other.

It does seem that memories of Terry nappies figure high! How did we manage with no baby wipes! Reading through the smell of Napisan came flooding back. A strong incentive to toilet train much younger than these days.

The advantages we had in the 70s I think were the wonderful prams. I had a hand me down Silvercross which carried the baby, two year old and four year old when she was too tired to walk, plus all the shopping on the tray underneath. Once my DS could sit up there was even more luggage space behind the back rest. Wonderful things and I’ve noticed one or two sneaking back. We also had a flimsy carry cot which strapped into the back of the car and had a folding wheeled base which went into the boot.

Also that week in hospital was wonderful.(maternity homes still gave ten days until the early 70’s). It was needed as few husbands could take more than a week off work and grandparents weren’t expected to step in the way they do these days. Our parents certainly made it plain that they’d done their bit bringing us up and had no intention of doing further childcare other than emergencies.

I did a lot of part time jobs which could be done at home as there were no nurseries around then. Hand writing envelopes was one, hand knitting Aran sweaters, child minding a teacher friends son - anything to bring in a few more pennies. It wasn’t until the youngest was settled in school that I was able to take an office job. Filing for a large insurance company on what would now be called GIG terms so I could stay home whenever I needed to to cover sickness and school holidays. Very few husbands ever took time off for childcare. But with only 10-15 days holiday a year, time off was precious. Things have changed so much!

My twins were born in 1965.
One boy & a girl. I remember thinking I had produced a readymade family. I gave birth at St Theresa's hospital in Wimbledon. Run by very kindly nuns. Only draw back was that whatever they were doing they would stop & fall onto their knees every time the bell rang. Not too convenient unless you were between contractions.
In the night after giving birth all the fire alarms went off & I awoke from a well deserved sleep to find two burly firemen with a large hose & axes racing thro my room looking for the fire.
It was a false alarm. Pretty alarming for us new mums tho.
It's amazing to think that, back then, the twins sat in their Silver Cross pram on the street outside Sainsbury's whilst I shopped inside !
I would put shopping in the tray beneath or behind their seats. I soon learnt that they somehow managed to join forces to get into the groceries stashed behind their seats. I came out of another shop onetime to discover them both munching on a large piece of cheddar cheese. No plastic wrappings in those days!
I also put them outside, in the front garden, to have a nap or simply to watch the world go by.
Never done these days. I made all their clothes on my Singer machine & sewed Ladybird buttons on them. I also knitted like crazy as did my dear Mum & my Nanna.
A play pen was a must & yes cloth nappies, Id empty the Napisan bucket into the bath & rinse them out before washing in my twin tub, with wringer. Phew ! I seem to remember ironing them too, must have been mad !!!
Every evening I pushed the pram down to the station to meet Daddy off his London train. I can still remember how his face lit up when he saw us waiting at the bottom of the station stairs. He pushed the pram home as it was uphill and he would get up for the night feeds too. We would do one baby each.
Many happy memories, life seemed so much simpler & less scary back then.

Oh so many familiar tales especially the towelling nappies and buckets of Napisan. Mine were born 1977, 1979 and 1982. I remember discovering nappy liners which could be gathered up complete with poo instead of having to scrape it off the nappy into the toilet!

My babies came out in rashes with the elastic of the plastic pants but I found some with padded legs which worked (most of the time). The only problem was that they eventually went hard and sharp at the edges so didn't last long. There were some disposable nappies by the time of the youngest but if you didn't get it right first time the fasteners did not stick. The wee and poo also came out down the legs! DGC all had better designed disposable nappies but I don't think I could have afforded them at the time.

Living in a first floor flat with number one, I remember leaving baby on the floor while I took the pram down the stairs (and up). It was too heavy otherwise and I was afraid of dropping it. It was a Mothercare carrycot on pram base bought by MIL Baby went in carry cot part in the car with no seat-belts. Shock Horror!!

I lived far from relatives and husband worked away (and did not help anyway!) I was completely alone most of the time. I did go to mother and toddlers but had to pretend I didn't want a drink because I could not afford the 2p for a cup of tea.

I took my babies everywhere and remember standing in the guard's van on the train with the pram (and toddler on pram seat) when I went into town. There was usually a load of shopping on a tray under the pram when we came back. This included wallpaper rolls and paint once. Buses were harder because you had to fold up the pram/push chair while holding a struggling baby before you could board.

I thought I was very lucky with baby number two to have a twin tub washing machine, except for the day when it broke down and flooded the kitchen. I took the children in (and on) the pram and went for a very long walk till the boiling hot water cooled down and I could mop it up safely!! Happy days!! Definitely not!

Plus point ... I breast fed mine so no bottle sterilising hassle which I have had with DGC, (and it cost nothing!!)

I had my first daughter in 1977 and lived in a one bedroomed flat, with an outside toilet and no bathroom. I was kept in hospital for 10 days. I had to have stitches so they wanted to make sure I could have a good soak in a salt bath to prevent infection.

My daughter was slightly jaundiced so she was put under some sort of lamp for a period of time every day. She looked like she had been sunbathing and was a beautiful golden brown colour lol!

She slept a lot and I got told off for letting her sleep through the night as they said she needed her feeds as she was quite small. I had thought she was just a really good baby!

When she was nine weeks old we got offered a council house, so we were fair chuffed. It was a brand new house on a brand new estate. Everyone roundabout us were young families so it was lovely.

I had my youngest daughter in 1980 and had her in the same hospital as my first daughter. She got an infection soon after birth and was rushed off to the SCBU. I was so upset as she appeared to be a healthy 8lb 4oz. She had to get an antibiotic jab every 12 hours. She looked enormous compared to all the other babies in there. She then got the skitters due to the medication she was getting so was very, very sore down below. I was told to leave her without a nappy on to let the fresh air get to her and we were encouraged to just pick our babies up for a cuddle whereas 3 years previous we were told only to pick our babies up to feed and change them! I had another 7 days or so in hospital as she had to finish her course of medication then they wanted to leave her another 24hours after to make sure she was ok. My eldest daughter was looked after by her granny.

Things are so different now, you are sent home within hours of having your babies. Not sure if that is better or worse!

Thank you, these have been so interesting to read, some really lovely memories I'm incredibly impressed at all the big prams fitting into little cars - I can barely wedge mine in!

I think what strikes me is how much of society/public spaces were not mother and baby or child friendly- I suppose I just assume there will be a baby change wherever I go, for example, and most places have lifts/ramps. I think that's something that had changed relatively recently. Society seems more child centred in some ways, in that there's lots more classes, things to buy, things to make life easier, but less so in other ways, with a lot of people living away from families/communities that could support them as new parents.

My daughter was born in 1985, 3 weeks before my 21st birthday. I was induced due to having a miscarriage in my first pregnancy and a bleed at 35 weeks. It was a long Labour and I was so naive. I thought it would just be like period pain! She was so beautiful and I just couldn't stop looking at her for weeks. I had zorbit Terry nappies and used to love seeing them pegged on the washing line all snowy white. My favourite memory of her was when we walked through the park one day in spring. She was about 8 months old and sat up in her pram. Cherry blossom was drifting down from the trees and she had her arms held up trying to catch it. I remember it like it was yesterday. She now has two little boys of her own.
I have loved reading everyone's stories

My first baby was born in 1947. Difficult birth after having morning sickness for months.not that there was much to eat with rationing. We lived in an attic room with just a small coal fire for heating and having to go to the basement for water. Had been cold winter with freeze up in London. Queuing for small bag of coal, potatoes, pint of parrafin for the primal stove to cook on and heat water.. landlady did let me boil the nappies on her gas stove. Had to carry the prom up and down all the stairs
Landladys husband was demobbed and we were evicted when baby was eight months old. Went to the then London County Council for help who asked why we were so low on the housing list. Because we were unable to register because we were in the Forces. My mother who had a large house would not take us in because “You’ve married beneath you”:
Husbands mother who lived in a council house near uBirmingham and still had five children living at home took baby while we lived in a bed sit in London. Six months later we got a top floor flat, no bathroom. We were able to have baby back. When my son was born in 1949 rationing was worse than ever and nappies were still scrubbed with Sunlight soap and boiled on the gas stove. In spite of all this we were a very happy family.

I had my babies in 1960, 1962 and 1965. The first was born in a maternity home, no husbands allowed at the birth. I was left to labour alone until just before the birth, then was left alone on the delivery table for about two hours, really cold and afraid. My baby had been put in a cot in the far corner of the delivery room, he made no sounds and I had been told not to move-- I thought he had died! ( He was OK thank goodness). I had to stay in bed for 10 days and was constantly chided for not doing well at breast feeding--told I wasn't trying. The truth was that my baby was autistic and just would not latch on. I fed him for three months and every day was a nightmare.
I had my other two children at home and it was wonderful.The middle one was delivered by the district nurse and the last one came in a rush and a hurry and my OH had to be midwife!
All my babies had terry nappies over muslin nappies, folded into triangles and fastened with a nappy pin-- you had to put your fingers between the nappy and baby to make sure that baby didn't get punctured. I had a secondhand washing machine with a wringer on the top and all the rinsing was done in the deep stone sink so the floor was awash with the transference between machine and sink. Drying was outdoors-- in winter, the nappies froze and came in like cardboard. Airing was on a wooden drying rack in the kitchen,hauled up to the ceiling on a pulley. Nappy boiling was done in a Baby Burco boiler which regularly cascaded suds all over the kitchen floor.
Shopping had to be done every day because we had no fridge. This involved pushing two babies ,one on a toddler seat, in a big Silvercross coach built pram with the eldest child walking, holding on to the pram, along a rough road to the local shops then putting the shopping into a bag suspended from the pram handle and the rest into a wire rack under the body of the pram. Coming home, it was really hard work--felt like pushing a tank!
It was difficult keeping the children warm in winter as we had no central heating, only a coal fire in the living room. The winter of 1962- 1963 was a nightmare as we were snowed in for weeks on end and had no fuel at all, and I was looking after a sick toddler and a baby only a few months old. My parents lent us an old oil stove and I constructed a kind of tent around it with sheets to make a warmish oasis. I made all their clothes and knitted non-stop in the evenings to produce warm jumpers. Money was in short supply so I cooked everything from scratch, jams, bread, preserves and grew vegetables and fruit .
Life was tiring and hard, but my friends were all in the same situation. At least we owned our own home--a three bedroomed detached with a big garden, 30 miles from London, which cost us £3,740.

Congratulations and enjoy your baby!
My first was born in 1987 so not too long ago. I was by far the oldest mum on the maternity ward at 31! We did have disposable nappies but they often leaked-much more than those my daughter used for her children. A lot of friends gave us hand knitted clothes and blankets. I used to meet friends in the park in summer and each other’s houses-never occurred to us to pay for coffee and biscuits! Clothes and toys mostly secondhand. I went back to work when my baby was 6 months old-I worked for the local council and was only the 2nd woman to take and return from maternity leave!

1st daughter born in 1960 at home as nearby New town filled the maternity unit. So, although my mother was around I was up and running the home within 3 days and so sore after tears and no stitches, couldn't sit without pain for about 6 months.
No car, so two mile walk into town for shopping and two miles back. No wonder I was so slim.
At least I had a twin tub but no central heating and coal fire with boiler behind for hot water.
Much better experience with 2nd birth in 1972 with 10 day stay in Hospital and properly stitched!
I took great pride in how my daughters were dressed and their pram sets were so smart.

I had our only child in 1974 after a traumatic birth. Sadly I developed post natal depression. My doctor said ‘I don’t want to know why you are depressed but here are some tablets, come back in 6 weeks’.

I felt ashamed of my illness but was so grateful to have a kind, caring husband.

Those first years were miserable. Then when my son started talking to me we started to build a wonderful bond that lasts to this day.

I wondered how I would cope as a grandmother. The good news was that I was besotted and still am with both my GSs. I suddenly realised this was the feeling most Mums get when they have a new baby. It just took me longer than most to achieve those wonderful feelings.

I feel well and truly old now! My eldest daughter was born in 1957 (the dark ages according to some of these posts!!) I had excellent maternity care, went into a maternity ward for my first baby- did have to stay 2 weeks and no husbands at the birth - seems archaic now! I was able to have 2 of my next babies at home - which was wonderful. I had a twin tub washing machine and apart from having to wash towelling nappies(ugh!) things weren’t a lot different to my daughters’ experiences. I went back to teaching (supply and home tutoring) after 18months and also went back after having my subsequent 3 children. Apart from no scans I think the ante natal classes, baby care classes, talks and visits from midwives and health visitors seemed to be more frequent and caring than those available to my great grand daughter who will be giving birth in 2 months - I hope she gets care as good as mine was!

As a child living in the 50s, my mother wouldn’t of course had a latte after hanging out the nappies, but would certainly had a cup of tea, standard staple to get het through the day.

I've really enjoyed reading these. I too had my girls in 1979 81 and 83, and was regarded as an older mum. I had Terry nappies too as disposable ones were not that widely available. If I remember rightly they were called Paddi pads. Nothing like today ones.
I was a stay at home mum and wouldn't have changed that. I did sew from home to supplement my income. These were happy days. I feel it's sad that mums are expected to go back to work even if they don't really want to. I think parenting is a very important job and should be considered so.

What a fascinating insight into a life gone by and the technical age we live in now. We all seem to have just got on with it as we didn't know any different. Health and Safety these days would be horrified at some of the things we did - we once borrowed my dad's car when my son was a couple of months old to go somewhere and he was put on the back seat in his wicker carry cot - not even strapped in. When my husband had to brake suddenly the basket fell off the seat - luckily he was fine. Now I even strap my cat's carrier in!

No I have never seen my house on Doc Martin, I always look though. We are going down in November when all the "Emmetts" aka holiday makers..... it means Ants... have gone home. I still have relatives there, but the village is not what it was when I was a child. The hill I lived on had about 40 houses on it occupied all year round, now there is only one, and the rest are holiday homes. Of course it was war time then and though happy days for us kids, worrying times for our parents. Many of the men went into the navy, including my Dad who was in submarines.

I was a post war baby, but still remember rashion books, it was 1954 when rashioning finally finished, I was 7 then. I was often sent out for errands to a couple of the little shops nearby, were the shopkeepers knew us all by name. We took the ration books with us, and I was completely fascinated watching the shopkeepers cutting out the appropriate coupons and then telling us to be sure to look after the books safely until we got home.
Washing days consisted then of a built in copper in the kitchen with a coal fire beneath it, once all the whites were boiled up in it, the washing was then transferred to a dolly- tub, a metal barrel shaped item about the same size as one, more hot water added to it ,and the washing pummelled then with something called a dolly-stick ( looked like a 3 legged milking stool with a long handle). Finally was rinsed and put through a wringer to squeeze out the water, then hung outside on the line to dry. Rainy days were terrible as the washing still needed doing but had to be draped around the big Yorkshire Range fireplace on a line above it and on a big wooden clothes horse in front of it. That took all the heat away from everyone as there was no central heating. One of the bedrooms had a fireplace in it but the only time it was used was for home births, no-one could afford the luxury of having it lit at other times.
All of our jumpers and cardigans were hand knitted by my mother, and our aunties would often make us one for our birthdays. Another auntie who liked sewing sometimes made us a dress or skirt if she had any spare material. I was taught to knit when I was 9 and became very good at it, as I really enjoyed doing it and still do. Later on learnt to sew and crochet and found all these skills useful when I became a parent myself in the 60s.
When my own children were babies I had to boil the terry nappies in a bucket on the gas stove, then wring them out by hand as no wringer, or spin -drier, eventually got a Baby Burco boiler and a spin drier and thought I was well off. The downside was living in an upstairs flat with a shared garden and trailing up and down all the time with the washing and the pram, as the landlady would not allow the pram to be kept in her hallway.
Eventually moved to a house before baby no.2 arrived and that made life easier in some ways. Had acquired a fridge by now and thought how lucky I was. Still just the one coal fire though ...no central heating or double glazing. Look back fondly at these times ...lots of happy memories despite the hard physical work involved.

I was born in 1951 and my sister in 1956, so the things I remember from when my sister was a baby will be much what OP's grandmother did.

Nappies drying all over the place, as we had a washing machine but no spin dryer and not even an airing cupboard. In the Glasgow area it rains pretty constantly, so washing was hung out then brought in when the rain came on, hung out again and so on. My sister's muslin nappies, used inside a terry towelling one, were ironed. My mother bought an ironing machine to cope with the nappies - probably the terry towelling ones were ironed too. The ironing machine was still in working order in 2009 when we cleared my parents' house after my father died.

I well remember the scare when we thought my three month old sister had swallowed a nappy pin! She hadn't. Later on, she nearly choked herself in her cot harness!

When she was very little she slept in a Moses basket, which had a bamboo frame on castors. The basket could be lifted off and the baby bath put on instead. The bath was of lacquered paper maché painted white inside and green on the outside.

Her pram was the last word in high-tech as the body could be lifted off the frame and the frame collapsed so it could go into the boot of the car!

There was nearly five years between our ages, so her first potty was plastic, mine had been enamel and the set of beakers with pictures on the bottom that you could build a tower with that she was given was made of soft plastic, mine were hard plastic.

Yes so much nappy boiling, it was a point of honour to have a line full of spotless white nappies blowing in the wind.
No tumble driers then so if it was raining nappies were drying all over the house. Oh the joys. I remember we had a gas fire fitted to replace our open coke fire, it was such bliss to be able to switch it on and get immediate heat.

MargaretinNorthant How lovely to have grown up in Port Isaac. Do you ever see your house on Doc Martin?

My two were born in the 80s as well, ninathenanna, my DS in 1980 when I stayed in hospital for 7 days (you did in those days) and my DD in 1983 when I chose to stay in for 5 days as it was the only way I knew I’d get any sort of break. I was with Husband No. 1 then, and he was somewhat tight fisted and selfish so I had to ask around friends who kindly gave me a carrycot type pram and one who loaned me a cot, which she had back once baby number 2 had outgrown it. I had a second hand twin tub, terry nappies went in to soak and the kitchen smelt of the ammonia from them. I went out for the day when DS was about 10 months old and came back to find that H1 had not given him anything to eat all day and his rubber pants had wee sloshing around in them because my selfish H1 hadn’t thought to change or feed him. I didn’t do that again!

Reading through replies, yes there was a LOT of boiling nappies going on!