Nursery Routine for Mother and Baby... From the 60's

[youthere]

This is from the 60's. My mom was going through some of my baby memorabilia and came across this instructional sheet they gave her when I was born. It gave me a pretty good chuckle.


-----------------------------------
A. Bottle Feeding:

1. Babies are observed in the nursery for the first twelve hours after birth.
2. The second twelve hours, the babies are fed glucose water which wil be followed by a formula according to Dr.'s orders for the individual baby.
3. Baby will be fed in the nursery for the night feeding.

B. Breast Feeding:

1. Your baby's first feeding in your room will be determined by the time of delivery. The regular schedule of feeding hours will be followed thereafter.
2. Baby should be placed to the breast at the first feeding even though your breast milk may not be present until the third or fourth day. Starting baby at the breast with the first feeding will help stimulate the flow of milk. A complimentary formula will be fed following the nursing period until a sufficient amount of breast milk is being taken by the baby. Nurse one breast at a feeding unless instructed to do otherwise.


BREAST FEEDING TIME LIMITS:
1st day-3 minutes
2nd day- 5 minutes
3rd day-7 minutes
4th day-10 minutes
5th day-12 minutes

C. Feeding Schedule

1. Whether baby will be on a 3 or 4 hour feeding schedule will depend on the baby's weight and your doctor.

3 hour schedule: 10-1-4-7
4 hour schedule: 10-2-6

2. Babies will be brought to you approximately 1/2 hour prior to time stated on the schedule.
3. A bell will be rung before each feeding. This is your signal to prepare for the baby by doing the following:
a. have your blanket opened
b. Be in a sitting position.
c. If nursing, have gown removed from shoulder and bra opened so baby can be placed at breast.

SUGGESTIONS:
1. If baby is breast fed, it is best if mother wears a gown which opens down the front or one easily slipped off from the shoulder rather than lifted from the bottom up. This is to prevent baby from coming in contact with possible infection.
2. Burp or bubble baby after every ounce of formula.
3. DO NOT UNWRAP your baby. The blanket is a protection from possible contamination.
4. The nursery charge nurse will come tell you about your baby each day between 9:30A.M. and 10:30 A.M. If you have questions she will try to answer them at this time, or will refer them to your physician.
5. It is MOST IMPORTANT FOR THE PROTECTION OF BABY that your visitor (only one allowed during your stay) DOES NOT SIT ON YOUR BED or the empty beds in your room.

10421-64
Form #648-13

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. Dude, they were insane back then.

I doubt I would have had my kid in a hospital back then. If I ever have a kid, he/she is not leaving my or my husband's sight the entire time we are in the hospital. That is MY baby, and I don't know those freaks!
Duckie

[youthere]

2. It made me laugh when I thought about when my kids were born...

I nursed them when I felt like it and my husband and I shared a king size bed at the hospital. The bell thing was a riot.

[Iris]

37. yeah - how many infants have you heard of that were CONTAMINATED by their own mothers!

crazy

[DarkTirade]

46. Especially considering that mother's milk has antibodies from whatever

she's usually carrying. :P

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Because, yeah, all bebbies fit into that feeding schedule

:eyes:

Whoever wrote this would have HATED the way I took care of my bebbies! LOL

[youthere]

12. Me too..

The got nursed when they wanted for as long as they wanted.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. First boy was a bottle bebby.. not my choice. Second was a breastfed kid and he

nursed until he was 2 and a half. This also meant he slept with hubby and me for that long. (Although I would put him in his crib when he was asleep, but he'd come back eventually for more comfort nursing.)

[youthere]

39. Yep, I nursed all three of mine and they slept with us too...

I got hooked up with the laleche league before I gave birth to my first one, and they really helped prepare me for it. My longest nursing was my son who finally stopped nursing for good just before his third birthday...but relapsed (briefly) when his baby sister was born (a little jealousy there, I think).

It was funny because both of my older ones would sneak into the refrigerator and drink the milk I pumped for the baby.

[GreenPartyVoter]

43. First one was a sensory issue baby who couldn't nurse. The second I had

wanted to nurse until he was three, but I shared a fork with him and gave him a cold sore and that was the ned of that. Even at 8 now he will smoosh his face into my boob. He finds boob-smooshing hugs to be very comforting.

At the time it drove me crazy when I would be sitting at my computer and he'd yell "Want Beebee!" He'd lift up my shirt and I'd get things all set up for him. He'd stand there, take a 2 second hit and wander off somewhere else. I'd put everything back just in time to hear "Want Beebee!", and I'd start all over again. LOL I used to tell him I wasn't a soda jerk, for all the good that did me.

[youthere]

48. Ohmigawd...

I'd forgotten about those two second hits! :rofl: My son used to do the same thing!

[GreenPartyVoter]

52. I'm trying hard not to forget those little things now. Annoying at the time, but so wonderfully

funny and precious in hindsight.

[youthere]

54. My favorite cartoon is "Baby Blues"...

and right now the writer is doing a series "The Days are Long...but the Year are Short"...

at the time I remember thinking my son was NEVER going to stop breastfeeding...but now 'his nursing years are just a blip. They grow so fast.

[GreenPartyVoter]

55. My oldest just turned 10. How the heck did that happen?!

[youthere]

57. Yep..my oldest is now a lippy 13 year old...

*sigh*

[GreenPartyVoter]

60. The lippiness just started here. My "easy" kid is no more! Darned testosterone LOL

[youthere]

66. Mine's trying out for cheerleading this week...

so they've had practice sessions for the last two days...now she walks around with the worst attitude. She's been really snippy and nasty. I'm hoping it's because she's either A. tired or B. extremely nervous about try-outs or C. ready to start her period. If she keeps it up past tomorrow (try-out day) we're going to have to have an attitude adjustment.

[GreenPartyVoter]

69. Tell her good luck, and holler if you need any help with the cheer stuff. I have noticed that

the kids on my team really change over time. The ones I had as little kids turn into mouthy eye-rollers around 6th grade or so. This year I had kids as young as Kindergarten on the team, so not only did I have the sassiness I also had temper tantrums and sulky crying fits. Oh joy! LOL

http://aescougarcheer.com/photogallery/photogallery.htm

[youthere]

70. My sweet helpful, thoughtful daughter has become...

one of those mouthy eye-rollers this week. AND she's also having the sulky crying fits when she's not walking around with the "you're all such an inconvenience to me" attitude. It's a treat I tell ya.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Schedules like this one ...

Were why so many women did not succeed at breastfeeding...

*sigh*

Thank god I knew how to do things, and did succeed...

My first daughter was born in 1966, and we successfully breastfed till she was 11 months old!

Things are so much better now!

My younger daughter has a four month old son, and he is completely breastfed (NO supplements at all)!

He's growing like a weed, too!

[youthere]

11. Exactly..their breast feeding plan works AGAINST nursing mothers.

[supernova]

5. A bell?

Ready!

Set!

Nipples present!

Feed!

[youthere]

17. Aaaaaaand they're OFF!

:rofl:

[ThomCat]

6. Holy shit!

Did they really try that hard to regiment the life of a baby? And did they really limit the parents' time with the baby that much?

:wtf:

I hope it's very different now.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. It is very different now, my dear ThomCat...

Babies typically room in with their moms from birth till discharge...

And they feed on demand...

It is entirely better!

[ThomCat]

10. That's good to know.

My mom has often told me that she didn't get to hold me at all until I was 6 months old, and the hospital didn't see anything wrong with that. I lived in an incubator.

I just can't believe that the supposed experts in caring for babies were so cold and thoughtless. :(

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. Well, you know, they did it because they thought it best...

So much was not known about babies and how they grow best...

Even premies are handled carefully as soon as possible...

Touch is so important to good growth...

Even so, I think you turned out to be a wonderful and loving guy...

And I mean that! :hug:

[ThomCat]

20. Thank you, Peggy.

:hug:

I've turned out pretty well, but it's been a bumpy trip. :P

:hug:

[youthere]

16. Isn't that outrageous?

It is very different now...although when I had my youngest I had one of the old school nurses (must have been a holdover from my mother's time) that insisted I would never get her on a schedule if I wasn't willing to let her "cry a little"..I just looked at her and said "Schedule?" and started laughing. She stormed out of my room in a huff.

[ThomCat]

23. Wow! I'm glad you handled it that way.

I don't think babies don't know anything except when they feel Right Now. If they're left waiting I think they are going to feel abandoned and terrified far more than that nurse thinks. I can't believe that any schedule is more important than comforting that baby.

[Arkansas Granny]

44. Absolutely. I had books that advised if baby woke up before a scheduled

feeding, just let him/her cry until feeding time. The theory was that if you coddled them, you'd never get them on a schedule.

[Redstone]

7. Ah, for the good old days, when they drugged the hell out of Mom for the delivery,

so it didn't hurt, and Dad got to walk around a room down the hall and smoke cigs until it was all over.

The new way is SO much better, when Mom is told she has to rely on ridiculous-sounding "cleansing breaths" to cope with the pain that inevitably mounts to the point where she grabs a fist full of Dad's shirt front, whips him to within an inch of her face, and screams "YOU DID THIS TO ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

But it's, like, cooler nowadays, you know, because it's, like, more natural and all.

Redstone

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. My dear Redstone!

Now you stop that, and I'm saying this with love and a smile!

Some women have little or no pain in labor and birth, and they function very well in a low-stress environment with a midwife and so on...

Women were over-medicated back in the 50's and before, and both they and the babies suffered for it...

Adequate pain relief is a must, always!

But the infant can be harmed by it, so care must be taken, OK?

Sheesh...:eyes:

:hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. I was drugged with the first one because i was induced with Pitocin. One long

horrible contraction, that was. I went natural with the second one. The contractions had breaks but still painful.

Lucky for me I was done in about 5-6 hours with each kid! *phew!*

Good informative reply to Redstone, Peggy! :hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. And of course, you needed your drugs, sweetie!

Every birth is different...

Thanks for validating me...:hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. Every birth really is!

[Redstone]

30. Ah, you and Peg DO know I was joking, yes?

Redstone

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. Well, I had really hoped so :^P

[CaliforniaPeggy]

32. Well, you got me!

I thought you were serious...:blush:

That's why I responded with such um...heat...

It's a topic near and dear to my heart...

I did have thoughts a long time ago of being a nurse-midwife, and so that always comes into play in threads like this one...

Sorry, Redstone...

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. What made you not go the midwife route?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

41. It would have meant a LOT more education...

And I decided that I'd rather not undergo all of that...

I got a 2 year RN instead of a BSN, and worked in Critical Care instead...

I was already in my 40's when I became a nurse, so it would have delayed my working a lot...

That's mainly why...

[GreenPartyVoter]

49. Yeah, I can see that being an issue. My mom told me she thought it

would be cool to be a Doula. I never had the heart to tell her that she drove me crazy being in the room with me during my delivery. But maybe that was just cuz she was my mom. She gave the most painful back and foot rubs! LOL

She was really bummed when I didn't ask her to come with me for kid #2, but I really wanted her at the house with kid #1. (My dad was supposed to watch him and is awesome with the boys, but he also falls asleep all the time and I just thought that would be bad with a 23 mo old on the loose.) :P

[youthere]

33. My oldest and youngest were Pitocin babies....

with 12-17 hour labors. Trust me..I know what you're talking about re: the drugs. With my middle child the labor was quick (about 2 hours) and it was done. The breathing excercises really worked and I had no pain meds (there wasn't time anyway by the time we got to the hospital).

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. Both my boys hurt. I guess I just have realllly strong contractions. I pushed the second

one out so hard his face was bruised for about a week after. :(

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FHH_QJGZIg



:rofl:

[Redstone]

51. Oh, that's God DAMNED funny! Now I wish I had watched that show when it was on.

Redstone

[FloridaJudy]

74. LOL!

That was me! Not the screaming and carrying on, but the line "I changed my mind. I think I want the unnatural childbirth! How about I get a good night's sleep, and we can finish this tomorrow, okay?"

My midwife's response was "It's too damned late. I can see the head. Push!"

[LaraMN]

26. I NEVER said "You did this to me!"

Although I do believe I said, "You owe me for this!"


:rofl:

[Redstone]

36. Ha! My older son's mother never forgave me for the fact that I was eating a ham sandwich while

he was being born. But hey, at least I was there in the room with her...I was hungry, dammit, and could have just as easily stayed downstairs in the cafeteria to eat my dinner!

Mrs R, on the other hand, had a c-section to deliver the Little Guy. I walked into the operating room and stopped to watch them open her up, and the doctor panicked, yelling at me that I had to go over by her head, where there was a curtain that blocked my view of the proceedings.

I told him "don't worry, I'm not going to throw up or pass out; I've seen more guts than this before, and I just want to keep an eye on how everything's working out here," but he was insistent, the son of a bitch.

Damn doctors.

Redstone

[youthere]

45. LOL!

I remember with my first one I was getting closer to pushing time, so the contractions were really intense and non-stop (this was a Pitocin baby)...and as I was laying there moaning and crying and huffing and panting my husband (who had been watching a movie) leaned close to me and said in his most sympathetic voice "What's wrong honey?" I swear to God I would have kicked him in the face if I could have gotten my leg that high.

[GreenPartyVoter]

53. My hubby was awesome for baby #1. He'd watch the monitor and would warn me

that a contraction was coming. The second time around there was no monitor, so instead he watched TV. I have vague memories of "The A-Team" and "Knight Rider" playing while I was 'dying' in the bed next to him.

[Iris]

40. I don't think that's typical these days

more like:

Couple takes NO childbirth or childcare prep classes
Doctor decides he'd better induce because baby is getting "too big"
Mother and dad invite all their friends and family to hospital for the induction
Said family and friends wait around a bit while mother gets to the point she needs an epdirual
everyone is asked to leave the room b/c now mother needs cesarean


2nd birth?

Skip up to "mother needs Cesarean" - mother and dad pencil that into their schedules.

[Redstone]

56. With all the Yuppies around these days, I wouldn't doubt you at all.

Redstone

[Iris]

71. yeah - having a baby any other way just takes too much time!

[LaurenG]

15. Infection!

If baby is breast fed, it is best if mother wears a gown which opens down the front or one easily slipped off from the shoulder rather than lifted from the bottom up. This is to prevent baby from coming in contact with possible infection - oh wow from what? x(

[youthere]

18. I liked the whole "Do not unwrap the baby" thing...

what kind of contamination is the baby going to be exposed to and more importantly...what the HELL are those blankets made out of?

[LaurenG]

21. Infectious wooly cottony things?

:rofl:

[ThomCat]

25. Isn't it obvious?

:P

If you have to lift up a gown then it's been near your crotch. And we all know that only evilness, foulness and disease can come of that!

:rofl:

[LaurenG]

28. Oh - Well I was thinking of a shirt

Makes me wonder how any of us had ancestors that made it past the first few days of germy life.

:rofl: :hug:

[youthere]

29. So you HAVE met my mother.

:rofl:

I keed, I keed...but only a little. ;)

[Arkansas Granny]

38. My first child was born in the 60's in a military hospital. Talk about

regimented. If those babies could have walked they would have been marched to the mother's rooms every four hours. As it was, we had to trudge down to the nursery every 4 hours, get the baby and trudge back to the room (I swear it was a block away), keep the baby for 1 hour sitting in a straight backed, armless chair with a hard seat (no sitting on the bed) and then at the signal over the intercom, trudge back to the nursery to return the baby.

Schedules were to be strictly adhered to or you might spoil the child. If you bottle fed, you dare not feed more or less than the prescribed amount. And be sure to boil everything!

[ThomCat]

47. I was born in a military hospital in the 60s.

And that's probably a big part of the reason they thought it was fine to leave a child in an incubator indefinitely. :P

I can't believe they didn't at least believe in comfortable chairs for you and your child. Wow.

[Arkansas Granny]

65. There was so much they didn't know about. I had my other babies in a civilian hospital

and it was very different, but still pretty clinical. When my grandchildren were born I was amazed at how relaxed things were. I was able hold all of them shortly after birth and was even a coach at two of the births.

[LeftyMom]

42. Wow, that makes my inner Lactivist very angry.

No wonder hardly anybody managed to breastfeed back then, that's just about the exact opposite of how to keep your milk supply up.

[ThomCat]

50. Only savages breastfeed!

Civilization gave us Chemistry! And Chemistry gave us superior foods! :P

[youthere]

58. That's right! Breasts are for ogling!

[Arkansas Granny]

67. I always told people I breastfed because I was lazy. No bottles to wash,

no formula to mix, no worry about the temperature and I didn't even have to walk to the fridge to get it.

:D

[youthere]

68. Yep..me too.

I did pump occasionally when we were going to leave them with a sitter...and even those bottles were a royal pain.

[FloridaJudy]

75. LOL! Breastfeeding: the lazy woman's choice!

Compare. Kid wakes up hungry in the middle of the night...

Bottle method:
1) Go to kitchen.
2) Remove cold bottle of formula - which you have previously mixed using sterile procedure - from fridge.
3) Fill pan with warm water.
4) Place bottle in pan, and place pan on stove. Turn on burner at low heat.
5) Carefully watch bottle and pan to make sure bottle does not get too hot. No you can't use the microwave, for reasons too complicated to explain here.
6) Remove bottle from pan and test temperature of formula by sprinkling on wrist.
7) Pray it's not too hot, because by now the baby is screaming his or her little lungs out, and you don't want to have to start over.
8) Take warmed bottle to nursery.
9) Pick up baby.
10) Sit in rocking chair while you feed baby.
11) Return baby to crib.
12) Take used bottle back to kitchen.
13) Be sure to rinse bottle and nipple carefully, if you don't want congealed formula gumming up the works later.
14) Put bottle and nipple aside so that you can sterilize them later.
15) Go back to bed.
16) Finally get some sleep.

Breast method:
1) Go to nursery.
2) Pick up baby (alternately, pick up baby from bassinet besides your bed. It saves a step).
3) Sit in rocking chair/lie on side in bed.
4) Plug baby in.
5) Go back to sleep.

[Rabrrrrrr]

62. Silly. If mom's have breast milk, then they aren't buying formula.

If they aren't buying formula, then doc ain't getting his cut, and Mr. Formula Owner Businessman has to go back to one small yacht, and the government loses the best population-controlling-chemical distribution line it's ever had.

[Rabrrrrrr]

59. Hey, wait a minute! If that's the 60s, then where are the cigarette breaks?

The ones where they tell you not to unwrap the baby BECAUSE IT WILL DIE!!!!! but feel free to have a cigarette while you're breastfeeding, because that's okay, because the doctor's probably enjoying a smoke with you?

[ThomCat]

61. I remember that there were smoking areas in the hospitals

when I was a kid. That really is weird to remember considering the way opinions have changed. :P

[Rabrrrrrr]

64. Heck, in the 60s, the smoking areas were the rooms!

And the examination rooms, and the waiting rooms, and the hallways...

Or if not in the 60s, it certainly was in the 50s. The late 60s and early 70s is probably when the smoking started to be narrowed down a bit.

At the hospital in my town here now, you can't smoke except something like 50 feet away from the building. I don't think there's a smoking area anywhere in the building.

[youthere]

63. LOL! My mother was a two pack a day smoker at the time..

and they had a smoking lounge on the maternity ward. Now she's up to three packs a day.

[FloridaJudy]

72. {{{{{cringe}}}}}

I did my original maternity rotation in a military hospital in the seventies, and it wasn't far different from this. I remember a young mom who had just unwrapped her baby for the first time and was counting fingers and toes with a look of such delight on her face that it made me smile. "Wow! She's beautiful! I can't wait to show my husband!" An older nurse snatched the kid up and re-wrapped her tightly scolding "You don't want her to catch some disease, do you?"

I think it spurred me to go into women's health because I just knew there had to be a better way.

[youthere]

73. My mom was telling me about when she had my brother...

one of the other women in her room wanted the baby in there with her and was really raising hell about it. They threatened to send her to the psych ward if she didn't knock it off.
I'm glad there are people like you who knew even then that this was wrong.

[Giant Robot]

76. Little Robot was born last year so this is all still pretty fresh to me

We were pretty much left on our own to do everything for the baby after she had been born. The nurses were available to us, but the baby stayed with us in the hospital room the whole time. A good thing there I think.

The one thing I remember being told was that she needed to be fed every two hours. So every two hour at some point we tried feeding the little one. She hardly ate anything. Then when it was not this magical predetermined feeding time we had set up, she would cry and fuss. I think this lasted until we got home and the Little Robot broke our spirits and we just did what she wanted when she wanted it.

Little Robot these days is now on a very nice schedule and sleeping through the night. She hardly fusses, and when she does, you know that something is very wrong. She may not eat or sleep at the exact same time every day, but it is within a ballpark range. And we all could not be happier. I truly believe it was our listening to her that has set us up on this wonderful schedule and helped create a wonderful little girl.

Listen to your child!