Then and Now

apricot, I think you are right, there must have been more hours in the day then. Talking to DD one day, as she was telling me how she couldn't do this or that, because of lack of time, I said well how did I cope when I had the 3 of you? She answered "Mum, that was over 30 years ago!!" Because as we all know, there was more hours in the day then?

There was one thing that helped my babies when they had nappy rash and that was egg white dabbed on to the bottom and nappy left off to allow the area to dry. The dried egg white formed a barrier on the skin and did not make the skin soggy like creams.
I must have been very lucky because I had very few dirty nappies from my children. I started at 6 weeks holding them over the potty at strategic times and just catching it, after a while it became like a signal and child performed without prompting.
Those dreadful plastic pants, no matter how carefully you washed them they still went hard and cracked round the legs.
I have noticed that it is fairly common to see 4 and 5 year olds in nappies at bedtime, I am sure ours were dry at night by 2.

Our local chemist used to make up a 'sulphur' ointment for babies bottoms and it really worked well.

Our local chemist used to make up his own version of Calpol in a plain brown bottle when my girls were little. Not quite as pink and a third of the price.

Life was certainly harder in some ways when we were young mums but going back another generation, my mother had her babies in wartime. Husband away and maybe never coming back, rationing, and she IRONED NAPPIES for 3 babies born within 18 months (twins then me in mid-winter.)
The pace of life was so much slower, I pity modern parents, raising families whilst both working full-time.

Yes, apricot, life was hard for mums during the war, but in the 1940s, young families were much more likely than they are now to live close to grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins. My unmarried aunt and uncle lived with my granny round the corner and uncle, aunt and older cousins just up the road. Never a day passed without some contact or other. There's a lot to be said for the extended family.

OMG me too surely there must have been more hours in the day, i had two boys worked full time, but i married in 1980 so was lucky enough to have an automatic washing machine lol i remember it was my prized possession.I look after my youngest granddaughter 8am -7pm 3 days a week and i find myself thinking it was never as hard as this was it or are boys easier than girls? or is it 30 yrs later i`m past it? lol.

My twin tub was a boon though thinking back it must have an effort to get it out, fix the hose to the tap and then empty it in the sink. The spinner was good but all those nappies still had to hang on the rack and got very hard, if I remember. Poor little bottoms, no wonder they got sore. I had a yellow nappy bucket with a lid and a pair of wood tongs to transfer nappies to the washing machine. I remember going to friends' houses and finding that they too hung their sheets etc on the banisters or various racks - no central heating or tumble driers either! Still we managed by having a routine - boring, but jobs got done.

When my daughter was born in 1969, my husbands grandma was 90 and would often come and spend the day with me. I once asked her what she wished she could have had, that I had got, when her children were babies back in the early part of the 20th Century. I thought that she would say,National Health Service, immunisation, anti biotics, a washing machine, spin dryer or babygro's. Guess what she said......Plastic pants!!! She said that they were always wet and everything that they wore got wet, bed,pram, thick woollen clothes etc. Makes you think!!!!!!!

Interestingly, my daughter who now lives in New Zealand with my four little Kiwi grandchildren appears to have gone back in time. She bakes daily to give them fresh after-school snacks and meals and dries her clothes outside.
Granted, the climate is generally far kinder for clothes-drying, but this doesn't explain why women still swap recipes and get excited about new kinds of baking accessories there. It's a refreshing change from our gadget-obsessed, takeaway UK lifestyle, and makes real sense of all those "save the planet" and "eat fresh, eat healthy" messages.

GrandmaAnge, it's good to know that your daughter's generation in NZ is carrying on the traditions I see in my sister and her friends there. They bottle, freeze and jam everything edible that they grow in their extensive gardens, but I haven't seen any sign of this in her DD and DiL so far. I don't think I have ever seen my sister in a frenzy about recipes or baking kit, though! Must take her to Lakeland next time she's here....

olliesgran