Leaving babies outside to sleep …..Scandi craze.

My first baby was born in 1962, and the midwife said to put him outside in all weathers except fog. I looked at the snow, the ice, and then the baby, and felt doubtful. So I put him in the downstairs bedroom with the window open and the hood up. I later read that several babies had died through breathing in the very cold air, although they were well wrapped up. We didn't know much about looking after babies in those days, but I decided that I'd use common sense after that.

Grammaretto

It's nothing new. There was a big craze in Britain in the 1930s for fresh air even to the extent that cages for babies were made to hang outside tenement windows like the washing.🥺

😲
That looks quite terrifying

My DGS would have been working out a way to dismantle it!

Such beautiful prams in those days.

I remember pushing them along with my sisters in them.
The lovely sun canopies for hot weather.

It’s a shame they went out of fashion.
I guess they weren’t very practical for travelling around.

I think it's the size of those prams which wouldn't fit in a hallway let alone a car.
I had one but it was so heavy to push up hill with a load of shopping and the toddler on the seat I can remember dragging it.
When the new town of Cumbernauld was built in the 1960s, my df told me that the front doors weren't wide enough for a pram to get through.

Never put my babies outside. After an extended stay in the maternity unit ( 5 weeks) I lost all my confidence in everything and everyone . I did sit out WITH them, though .

Babies were always put out in their prams when I was young, and told the fresh air would do them good, even when it was snowing, lovely rosy cheeked babies!

Putting babies outside in their prams what still normal when I was born.

My mum has mentioned in recent years that my dad wouldn't even let her give my big brother (born 1958) an extra blanket in his pram when it was very cold, as it would make him 'soft'. I would love to say that it never did him any harm, but as he has suffered from chest infections all his life, who really knows!

I was born 3 years later and the weather turned extremely cold after my birth in early March. Luckily, as a girl, there were no such restrictions, otherwise who knows how I would have fared.

That said, I have been struck many times by how infants can survive the most awful conditions for quite long periods following things like earthquakes. They are definitely tougher than they look!

Greciangirl

Such beautiful prams in those days.

I remember pushing them along with my sisters in them.
The lovely sun canopies for hot weather.

It’s a shame they went out of fashion.
I guess they weren’t very practical for travelling around.

I had a Silver Cross pram for DC1 in the early 1970s and the bottom detached from the chassis so you could (with a bit of a struggle) get it into the car.
The wheels went into the boot, the baby was strapped into the top part which was then jammed between the back of the car and the front passenger seat!
There were no baby car seats then until they were toddlers.

Had second hand prams for my 3children and they were all put outside in the fresh air well wrapped up this was in 1960
Slight problem with my daughter (July baby) she was fast asleep and I left her outside the post office still asleep the postmistress said knew would be back all hot bothered bet not the only one

My two were born in 84 and 86. They were pushed into the garden daily as babies in what had been my pram as a baby in 1958. DS used to cry loudly & after the usual checks that he had actually nothing wrong with him, it was quite nice to see him on the lawn but not be able to hear him!!

daisybooh I left my baby outside a shop and went home... my parenting skills did improve, honestly.

What??? Not be able to hear him?

I received a strict ticking off from my health visitor for leaving my daughter outside in her pram in winter. She was well wrapped up but I was told that it was a dangerous thing to do as small babies cannot hold their body heat and become dangerously cold quite quickly.

I put my babies, born 1991, 1993 and 1996 in the garden to sleep as well as walking miles with them in the pram. I stopped with my youngest in the autumn when she was seven months old as there was a pack of urban foxes that had set up home between next door’s garden and ours. I felt it better to be safe rather than sorry. We moved soon afterwards (nothing to do with the foxes).

My two were born in 1969 and 1972.I had a Marmet pram and would always put them outside to sleep.The first one was born in a very cold winter I would wrap him up well in a knitted pram suit with three blankets then the apron with the hood always up and he slept for ages outside. The younger was born in the summer, he was put outside in the pram with a light covering and the sun canopy over the pram.He was a screamer though and would only sleep or half an hour before he would wake up and protest!
My mother did the same with us, I was one of five children and we slept outside in a pram in all weathers except fog snow and heavy rain. You always knew which house in the street had a young baby, as there was nearly always a pram outside.

albertina

I received a strict ticking off from my health visitor for leaving my daughter outside in her pram in winter. She was well wrapped up but I was told that it was a dangerous thing to do as small babies cannot hold their body heat and become dangerously cold quite quickly.

Yet I was told the opposite by my Health Visitor!
I can still hear her words:
"Put a warm baby wrapped up in a warm pram and she'll stay warm"

She said babies could get very overheated and that was dangerous.

I think yours was probably nearer the mark, but I think our own common sense had to take charge albertina!

Both my children slept outside (not in rain or snow) this was good clean air for their lungs. Most of their day was outside.
If the air had been poor quality , we’d not be living there.
The pram enabled laying flat and was cosy. Children were in those days left outside shops whilst Mothers shopped. I can’t imagine that happening today. There was definitely more common sense then. With my first born, we used towel nappies. We now realise this was cheaper and better for the environment These were different times as I was learning to be a mummy. There was no web site to consult and I thank God for advice from older Mothers.

I couldn’t believe how many things had changed when my dd had her babies. Virtually nothing I used to do was right, honey ?no, eggsNo, talc? no, how they slept, sleeping outside, weaning, toileting? just about everything I had done was absolutely wrong! I learned quickly that my advice was unrequited.
Twas ever thus I suppose and things will change again when their children are parents themselves.

DS spent spent much time outdoors, in the garage if the weather was too inclement, and seemed to thrive on it. He was so nosy he wouldn’t go to sleep if his sister and I were doing something that didn’t include him even though he had to fight to stay awake. Proved to be a less than easy child, but a great joy nevertheless.

I've seen babies out in the snow at minus 5-10 in Sweden and Helsinki. Sadly my own daughter feels she cannot risk leaving hers outside - because of a very inquisitive urban fox who regularly steals slippers, wallets etc.

Such a good point about online. This generation of parents looks online first for everything. Generally less interested in the views of older earlier mothers, from whom I learned pretty much everything!

I must admit not read all the post so someone else may well have made similar comments. Having watched call the midwife last Sunday talking about damp living conditions, black mould etc I thought of the old sanatoriums that looked after patients with TB and other chest infections such as bronchitis. The policy was to open windows and push beds out onto verandas in all weather. Presumably the air was cleaner and fresher outside. Most likely babies survived better if they were breathing in cleaner air. The temperature probably had nothing to do with it Except cold air when it’s not raining is drier

gwyllt there were several sanatoriums for TB patients in this area because of the sea air and pinewoods. Patients lived in individual little wooden huts which were built on metal turntable tracks so they could be turned to catch the sun or shelter from severe winds. They were open to the elements whatever the weather. They had no doors, only curtains.

There were also a few “open air schools” in the county for poorly children or those recovering from TB. The classrooms had glass doors that opened up to make the classroom fill with fresh air.

Many of the cottage hospitals around here had verandahs where beds were put out in the fresh air. In approx 1969 I had my tonsils removed and you stayed in about a week then and was in bed on the verandah every day. It was lovely.