What were YOU fed as a baby?

[TravelingChris]

I could not be breastfed since I had cleft palate. My mother had breastfed my older brother in the 50"s but because of my condition, I could not suck and so breastfeeding was out. First they tried regular formula (whatever that was in 1963) but soon had to put me on soy formula. With my own kids, I tried regular formula with the first two (could not breast feed because of medical condition) but both needed to be switched to soy. I didn't even bother with regular formula for the last one- she just started with soy. I don't have any idea when I started on either baby or regular food. I only knew about the soy formula because my mother really regretted that she couldn't breastfeed me. Then I also think she breastfed my younger sister for a short while because she turned out to require very special formula and special crackers too when she became a bit older.

[Tree House Academy]

Formula. I am 32.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I am 48. My mother bucked all trend and breastfed my brother and I for about a year. My parents didn't hold with " doctoring" which in this case was probably a good thing.

[reign]

Formula. She said she tried to breastfeed me several times but couldn't figure it out.

[Annie Laurie]

Yep, normal milk - 3.25% - from the grocery store…then her doc said to use 2% instead or I'd get fat. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

 

Don't developing baby brains need lots of fat?

 

I had breastmilk until I was 10 months old and my mom got pg with my younger brother and thought she had to wean me. I'll have to ask her about solid foods, now I'm curious.

[Sandragood1]

I'm 43. When I was 3 months old, my folks went to West Africa for two years. My mother was told to wean me before they left because they would be in Africa (?!). A large portion of my parents' moving expenses went to cover cans of formula.

 

This makes no sense to me.

 

Regardless, I got amoebic dysentery.

 

Oh, how how the fashions change!

 

 

Sandra

[Word Nerd]

My mom saved my old doctor's papers in my baby box. I know that I was started on cereal in my bottle almost immediately and had baby food at only a few weeks.

[nukeswife]

I was born in 74 and my mom tried formula which didn't work well, the Dr. told her to give me 2% milk and that did the trick. After switching to cow's milk I was a happy camper. My mom said I was a easy going baby.

 

I gave all three of my kids Good Start formula and they did fine. I couldn't breastfeed due to medications I have to take. They all switched to whole milk at about 10-12 months and then to 2% milk at age 2.

[Tangerine]

My mother was told to wean me before they left because they would be in Africa (?!).

 

Clearly, breastfeeding was unheard of in Africa. :001_huh: That really is the strangest advice.

[justamouse]

i was breastfed, then went to real food that mom would plop in the blender. whatever they were having, it all got blended up.

 

Dh-his mom MADE his 'formula' of boiled cows milk and cornmeal. :confused: Apparently he did wonderfully on it because if I could get a few of his remembering brain cells I might get a few things done.

[PeacefulChaos]

As far as I know, I was given regular formula...

[stripe]

Don't developing baby brains need lots of fat?

.

 

You know, all the advice given to pregnant women and new mothers should be looked at, because so much has changed! My grandma was encouraged to gain as little weight as possible. For that matter weren't women encouraged to smoke to help keep the weight off? Well, anyway she didn't smoke, but she's very proud to this day that she never needed special clothes while pregnant. And she doesn't normally wear loose dresses. Scary. My mother was laughed at by her doctor for taking vitamins and expressing concern about a good diet.

[Teachin'Mine]

Breastfed for about 3 months I think, then started solids. I know my mom says she gave me fried chicken when I was about three months old. And everything else. Soda, whatever.

 

She also says I almost choked to death on a Cheeto when I was about 3-4 months old. She had given it to me to hold and bite.

 

 

:svengo:

[8circles]

Breastmilk for all of us in the 70's. Pre-chewed table food started at about 6 months.

[Tap]

My grandmother was a wet nurse, so I assume she nursed her own babies. My mother was born in 42. I was born 30 years later. I have never heard my mother mention nursing any of us 5 kids. She has mentioned canned milk and I know we were all on solids early. Bodily functions are not talked about in my mother's home so I really have no idea if she nursed us at all or not, but I doubt it.

 

I nursed my kids for the first few months (my milk dried up after that) but I would have nursed longer. It didn't surprise anyone in my family, but I am the crunchy-granola person in our very-much-NOT-crunchy family. There are 10 grand kids, and I don't think any of them were nursed other than mine.

[Mothersweets]

She also tried to give me directions for making a sugar teat -- it keeps them quiet, she assured me!

.

 

So did you get the directions for making one? That would have been very cool to know!

[keptwoman]

I was breastfed, New Zealand never got to the stage that the US did where most mothers were encouraged to bottle feed. Official policy was supportive of breastfeeding throughout, but the mechanisms that that policy was delivered were such that assistance and advice often hindered rather than helped. However, my Mum breastfed us, I know I started rice solids and rosehip?? juice at 6 weeks old as that was the advice back then.

[ElizaG]

…then, she mentioned that when I was a baby, I had tummy troubles so she switched me to homogenized milk at SIX WEEKS OLD. :001_huh: (evidently mine weren't lactose issues!)

 

Yep, normal milk - 3.25% - from the grocery store…then her doc said to use 2% instead or I'd get fat.

This must be a 1970's Canadian thing. I was born a few years before you in Ontario, and was fed formula for 8 weeks, then 2% milk straight from the fridge. Oh, and something called Sobee cereal. I haven't been able to find an ingredient list, but I know the name Sobee stands for "soybeans." :ack2: My mother tells me that this was the standard routine at the time.

 

Apparently I screamed and cried a lot, and the doctor said I had colic due to an "immature digestive system." Well, no kidding!!! What did he expect from a newborn?

 

 

ETA: I think the cereal must have been "Pablum Sobee," a variety of Pablum that used soy flour instead of wheat and oats. Up to the 90's, Canadian doctors seem to have thought this was hypoallergenic and thus an ideal first food. Heinz bought the Pablum brand, and they still have a soya cereal on the market, but now it's listed as a stage 2 food for 6 months and up.

 

I've never heard of soy-based baby cereal being used routinely here in the US, nor of parents being told to feed young babies plain milk. Call me cynical, but perhaps this is because the US has always had a stronger corn lobby (hence all the Karo syrup) and Canada had a stronger soy lobby. Not to mention the provincial milk marketing boards, which were started in the late 1960's.

 

BTW, the original Pablum was invented in 1931 by pediatricians in Toronto, and Sick Kids' research facilities were largely built on the royalties. I don't think they were still getting income from it in the 70's, but it's clear that artificial infant foods have always brought in the $$$.

Edited August 5, 2011 by Eleanor

[littlebug42]

I was formula fed. My Dad was adamantly against breastfeeding. They came from a very rural hometown and to him, only the poorest of the poor breastfed their children (he was breastfed, by the way). My brother, born in 64, was fed the powdered milk/corn syrup concoction.

[Slartibartfast]

I was nursed, FFed and they also gave me cereal as soon as I was home from the hospital because the Drs told them I needed to be fed solids because I was a big fat baby.

 

I did not do well on it. I am allergic to milk.

 

I know when my sisters were little they sometimes got coke or melted jello in their bottles. I wouldn't be surprised if we got the same :svengo:

Edited August 5, 2011 by Sis

[Slartibartfast]

Remember, the way cows were housed, their health, and their milk product were all different back then. I would expect that the milk was much healthier and free of various antibiotics, etc. that could cause allergic reactions in babies. It's not the milk itself that causes problems for most folks, I think, it's the superfluous stuff in the milk....

 

I believe that I was given cow's milk pretty early on, too.

 

Milk proteins cause allergies, not antibiotics.

[RahRah]

You know, all the advice given to pregnant women and new mothers should be looked at, because so much has changed! My grandma was encouraged to gain as little weight as possible. For that matter weren't women encouraged to smoke to help keep the weight off? Well, anyway she didn't smoke, but she's very proud to this day that she never needed special clothes while pregnant. And she doesn't normally wear loose dresses. Scary. My mother was laughed at by her doctor for taking vitamins and expressing concern about a good diet.

 

LOL - my mom had the same advice and was absolutely horrified by how much I gained in both pregnancies - she's quite proud that with me she gained only 12-pounds and didn't need maternity clothes and with my sister, just 10-pounds! :001_huh:

[Pretty in Pink]

LOL - my mom had the same advice and was absolutely horrified by how much I gained in both pregnancies - she's quite proud that with me she gained only 12-pounds and didn't need maternity clothes and with my sister, just 10-pounds! :001_huh:

 

My mom was the same way. With my little sister she gained under 10 lbs despite having gestational diabetes and baby was under 6 lbs at birth. My mom doesn't think that was dangerous at all, but she is proud to say that she fit into her regular jeans for the entire pregnancy.

[stripe]

My mom was the same way. With my little sister she gained under 10 lbs despite having gestational diabetes and baby was under 6 lbs at birth. My mom doesn't think that was dangerous at all, but she is proud to say that she fit into her regular jeans for the entire pregnancy.

Yep, that's exactly how she talks! She thinks everyone should be the same. With my first pregnancy, she went out on a limb and said it would be okay if I gained fifteen pounds. I told her I was expected to gain between 25 and 35 lbs. She is always horrified that a new mother (I mean, the baby is under a week old!) doesn't have her figure back! She also gave me a pro-episiotomy speech. She had some of her kids under twilight sleep; I cannot imagine how weird that was.

[stripe]

So did you get the directions for making one? That would have been very cool to know!

 

Stick some sugar in a rag, and tie it up, was the basic idea. I wasn't partiularly interested.

[Dmmetler]

Breastfed until solids, and I believe beyond that. My parents ended up moving for my dad's graduate work when I was very, very young, and I think my mother used LLL as her social outlet.