getting childhood illnesses in the fifties

Thanks all,really interesting stories.
My mother, now 99yrs of age, has always told me that there were no vaccinations when we were young kids in the forties and early fifties.
Some mentioned about being put to bed with hot water bottles, so does anyone remember the awful stone ones?
I may know of them as it was at my grandparent's home in Eire, where we had them. Eire was then far behind the UK in times.

I had measles badly in the 50s, when I developed pneumonia with it. I was in bed for weeks and missed the first part of the 11 plus exam. I still made it to grammar school, but don't know how. I was on M&B emulsion to bring the temperature down, and pink penicillin from a bottle. I can't stand anything cherry flavoured to this day!
I had Rubella in adulthood, which made me quite ill. The GP asked whether I felt 'jointy'. I didn't understand what he meant until a few days in, when my hands and legs seized up.

Just like a lot of folk here, I had measles badly. Remember the doctor coming and being in a dark room for ages. Then came down with glandular fever and was in bed for weeks. I wonder if that still doesn't affect me now.

The biggest fear was TB. My sister's friend came down with it and I remember the fear among the adults that we might all get it too.

Iron lungs scared me to death.

I well remember most of them but measles was by far the worst for both me and my sister. It was a particularly bad virus that year and we were both in hospital. Sister in darkened room with cold compresses on her eyes and me in an oxygen tent. I still have dodgy lungs and she is now registered partially sighted. Two children at my primary school died from measles complications. My DIL initially refused to have DGC vaccinated so I really let rip. She thought these diseases were just something they got over quickly but I soon put her right on that. Bless her - she took it on the chin nicely and got them to the surgery.
I also remember when Polio vaccine came in. The usual postwar rumour went round - "there won't be enough to go round", so Mum went into overdrive. Up at 4.am, bowl of porride then a 2 hour walk into town. She thought we would be first in the queue! We weren't even in the first 200 but we did get the vaccine. Some people had been camped out on the pavement all night - mainly the fathers who then went to work and saved the place for mums and children later on. Luckily there was a bus home! It was called Infantile Paralysis then but that was a killer too.
I get very irritated at people who don't want to have their children vaccinated - if my Mum had had the range of vaccines that mothers have today, she would have bitten the doctor's hand off!

too young for the 50s but in the 60s I had measles & I was so sensitive to light the doctor tols her to be prepared for me to go blind. Mum has ehooping cough when she was a child in either late 40s or early 50s and was given scrumpy to ease the cough ( an old folk remedy) I'm assuming the alchohol helped with relaxing the muscles during the spasms

I used to have bad throats and my parents would put a kaolin poultice round my neck. It was lovely when it was warm but it soon went cold.
Never mind the 50s, in the 70s my children had measles, mumps, chicken pox, whooping cough, rubella and scarlatina. I had periods of weeks when I never left the house.

Measles 1946, snowy winter I spent what seemed like weeks in bed. Remember the wallpaper pattern 'throbbing' and having penicillin injections. Whooping cough too, earlier I think, well wrapped up in pushchair as I whooped. Several winters I had time off school with 'congestion of the lungs'. Didn't have chicken pox until 1960, during my first term teaching.

Had the usual childhood illnesses, but what I do remember is being kept indoors, in bed for a while until the worst was over. Our GP said recently that this was the right thing to do because you can't expect your body to fight illness and carry on with every day living. Resting meant a quicker recovery, but nowadays it seems children are kept off school but are running round the supermarket covered in spots while keeping Mum company! He also feels that taking things like 'Night Nurse' wrong as it masks symptoms and then people just carry on and in fact damage themselves as they are asking too much of their bodies. Trouble is, so many people can't have time off or are afraid to. Sorry - have gone off thread a bit here!

You name it I caught it! We lived in a very damp Victorian house which I don't think helped. I even caught the Polio virus but fortunately apart from a slight weakness in my leg I had no ill effects. I've had measles twice - once as a child and once when my DS was born. I remember breastfeeding him and seeing postage stamps dancing around the room. The midwife said I was giving him the best immunity possible so I kept going with the breastfeeding. My children and grandchildren take advantage of every vaccination going thankfully but they too have had chickpox, German measles and mumps; again luckily with no after effects. My parents were equally keen to ensure I was vaccinated when I was at school. The smell of disinfectant or whatever it was, was overpowering from us all on May Day when we danced around the maypole.

I lived in a house that had two families and seven children. If one of us got anything we were all put in bed together so we all caught it. I remember getting chicken pox., but German measles I got when I was 13/14 and whooping cough when I was 21, so all in the bed didn`t do me any good, it was only one of my sisters that got measles but we all got nits.

I've never had mumps, despite my sister having it and both my sons. German Measles got me on my 25th birthday and I had very sore, swollen hands as well as swollen glands around my neck. Luckily, I wasn't pregnant for another 5 years. Measles left me, at 5 years old, with bronchitis for the first and only time in my life.

I had glandular fever and remember being given hot milk and honey. I was sent for "sunray" treatment and had to wear goggles and sit in my navy blue knickers in front of a lamp then turn round when a bell rang! I was taken several times I remember.

I had rheumatic fever. I had 6 months off school ( prayed for in assembly), and wasn't allowed out of bed for the first 3 months I had a lovely time. Spoilt rotten

My mother also listed the illness in the baby book. Measles, Whooping Cough, and much later Chicken Pox, always big sister first and then me a week later. However, I was the only one to have Mumps and I remember that clearly. Big sister at school, me in bed, with a fire lit in the bedroom, wearing a pixie hat and scarf doing jigsaws, making dolls clothes with, for the first time, my Mum all to myself. Dad came off day-shift at the back of 3 and played dominoes and made the Tea while Mum went off to work. I was fed chicken broth and icecream and jelly - bliss.

Second week not so good as Dad on night shift, coming home at 7.30am, tired and grumpy, Mum off to work, me left to my own devices in bed with a pile of books. It must have been so difficult for my parents with their complicated work patterns when one or both of us was ill.

Wasn't Rubella the one you really needed to catch, if you were a girl? And Mumps if you were a boy? But rumour has it that all childhood diseases worse if you don't get them to adulthood.
I think everyone had measles before the vaccine came in. My sister developed a bad turn in her eye when she had it.

My sister had scarlet fever and diphtheria, so spent quite some time in the isolation hospital. It must have been frightening for her, and for our parents.

If anyone got those childhood illnesses when we were little we were sent to visit to catch it. To get it over and done with. Mum was a nurse.

Do you remember scarlet fever? Not that I ever had it. Patients got taken to the isolation hospital covered in a red blanket.

We were taken to chicken pox parties! We suddenly had to play with strange children and drink out of their cups etc. Shortly after, surprise surprise, we developed it! Illnesses were taken very seriously. Kept in bed, meals on special trays and weeks off school. I had a lovely time 'convalescing' after measles. Sent to Gran and Grandads. Bliss. Those were the day!

I had measles, whooping cough and chicken pox. My brother had mumps as well but I didn't. I caught measles and whooping cough quite close together as a 3 year old. Shortly afterwards I suffered eye problems. My mother always blamed the infections.
When I was in my teens, my father fell ill with mumps and yet again I remained free of the infection. Don't know why!

Yes had all ..but not whooping cough....all three in summer of different years so had to stay in bed in the heat...measles gave mum most concern as I was born with squints and had operations on them the concern was they would affect my eyes so curtains drawn all the time,I was told that I was hallucinating due to very high temperatures and there was concerns..but I lived to fight another day

I had CP mumps and measles. I was never put to bed whilst suffering with them though. Obviously I had to stay indoors but carried on as normal.
I remember mum had CP the same time as me and being older she was quiet poorly. I slept with her whilst we were both contagious and dad had my bed which I though was great.

Bellanonna they were probably M&B693 tablets which were an early type of antibiotic made by May & Baker.

I had childhood illnesses in the late 50's/early 60's. I apparently had measles but have no memory of it. I remember clearly having CP. My brother didn't have to go to school because he developed spots overnight. I was cross about having to go to school and I remeber checking my tummy one more time before leaving home and 'Oh joy!' I had a spot!

All I remember of mumps is my mum being cross when she came home from shopping to find my brother and me playing in the garden. My grandad was supposed to be looking after us but we'd got out of bed and sneaked downstairs and outside.

I had what I think was whooping cough when I was about seven or eight. I was pretty poorly and off school for six weeks.

Being ill as a child makes me think of days in bed, hot water bottles, meals on trays and being allowed up for an hour in the evenings wrapped in a dressing gown.

I had a bad case of chickenpox. My mother said I had spots everywhere including my scalp, between my toes and in my ears. I remembered being covered in calamine lotion and having to wear mittens to prevent me from scratching in my sleep.
The only upside to this was being able to stay tucked up in bed and my dad buying me American comics and lucky bags.
A few days later both my brothers caught the virus and I was blamed!

Yes I had all of those. I remember having Whooping Cough I was 9 yrs old so it was 1962. My Parents had a Butlins Holiday Camp thing booked, and the Doctor told my Mum to just go ahead and take me! I can remember feeling dreadful, didn;t get much sympathy when I was cough cough whoop whoop in the night I was just told off for being a nuisance.