Fashionable words!

Why is it odd to breast feed a baby who isn't your own? Wet nurses, anyone?

Does shouted down mean someone may have the temerity to disagree with you?

Why would you use the phrase 'shouted down'? I think it's an extremely sensible thing to do. My reaction was what lucky young women to be so close and to be able to share child care in every respect.

I know I'll get shouted down for this, but I find it odd that they breast-fed each other's babies. Yes, I know it's illogical, and they were sisters, but even so...

Exactly, GN.

I must have been a terrible grandmother. I just left my daughters to it - the seemed very knowledgeable and all ten grandchildren survived. They breastfed all of them until they were nearly two, sometimes two at a time because they were so close in age. They also breastfed each others when they were babysitting. Now they are both grandmothers and although one did try to interfere when her daughter was trying to wean her baby, she got short shrift. The other one would not dream of trying to tell her daughter-in-law how to bring up her children. (Especially as she lives 12,000 miles away!)
Unless a child is genuinely at risk, I think the best thing that grandparents can do is smile and say how wonderful young parents are coping.

It's a shame that there is so much information around now as it must be really difficult for today's mums to go on their own instinct as we did in the 'olden days'.

Oh my DDs made babyfood for their children but they left out the salt and sugar! I didn't!

Yep, both my DDs make their own and babies thrive.

Well according to the latest research you were absolutely right Penstemmon apparently home cooked food is twice as nutritious as the stuff in jars, which is also full of sugar.

I was so uninformed as a young mum that I just whizzed up whatever we(DH & I)were having and gave it to the baby! Spag bol, risotto, falafel & tahini, casserole etc! Never knew about 'no salt' etc..they enjoyed it all and thrived!

I was so uninformed as a young mum that I just whizzed up whatever we(DH & I)were having and gave it to the baby! Spag bol, risotto, falafel & tahini, casserole etc! Never knew about 'no salt' etc..they enjoyed it all and thrived!

Not at all. What about army dads and the like?
Lots of people don't connect with newborns, grandparents included, but once they start doing cute stuff it's a different matter. Never too late to fall in love with 'em.

I think you're wrong there Jess. Be a bit late then!

Suspect a lot of dads bond when the kids start interacting and moving around don't they, not when they are newborns.

About fathers must bond as early as possible.

My DH was away in merchant navy when DS2 was born and did not see him till he was two months old.All the bonding came later on, when DS was misbehaving as a teenager.

Baby slings

I had one for both of my sons.It was a Mothercare one and went across your body, I only used it when going out though as I found it got in the way in the house.My SIL told me she had what she called a ''cuddle seat'' for her youngest in the 60s.She used it for going on the bus with him.My grandmother's generation hardly used prams for the first few weeks, they carried their babies around n a shawl.
I remember my grandfather telling me how his mother, who had seven children, leaving the baby in a wooden cradle in the bedroom while she got on with housework etc. This cradle had rockers, and she had a rope attached to the bar between the rockers which was fed through a hole in the floor and the end hung from the downstairs ceiling.Whenever the baby was heard crying, she, or anyone handy, would tug on the rope to set the cradle rocking so the baby would hopefully go back to sleep until she was able to attend to him/her.That was my greatgrandmother's Attachment parenting.

My DD was a bit neurotic with her first baby but did suffer from postpartum depression. She is absolutely fine with the second baby (7weeks) and quite laid back. I am so proud of her.

Like Annodomini I too stuck them on (all five) - not all at once though - and fed both sides. I fed 4 of them until well past 2 and they all flourished.

On the subject of African mothers, I once saw a documentary about young - 6year old - children taking their baby siblings to the field to work. The way the children got the babies to sleep was to place their mouths over the baby's nose and mouth and breathe into them. The babies fell asleep in no time. Amazing - could it have been the carbon dioxide making them sleepy.

As long as they don't get it in their earnest young heads that vaccination is a "bad thing" or that grandparent visiting is the kiss of death to "bonding" I don't think it matters too much what they do.

I think that was the point I was trying to make anno. They could easily become neurotic nowadays and it's to their credit if they don't.

Never heard of fore and hind milk! I just hitched them up to the nipple and gave them both sides. Both flourished. Thank goodness for ignorance. I am sure that if I had been bombarded with all this information, I'd have been a neurotic mum.

If anything, the modern trend in carrying babies more and baby-led weaning (or whatever you want to call it, like just weaning!), is going back to basic stuff rather than inventing some new approach. I certainly had images of Latin American women with babies tied on when I had mine slung on, and I thought about how women in Africa with few implements would wean their babies – they'd shove some soft pap in the child's mouth when it showed an interest. Simple. The best ways always are.

But like everything else has been made into an issue by the "chattering classes".

I'm not sure one needs to be knowledgable. I reckon I did baby-led weaning by instinct. When my babies showed an interest in what I was eating – watching, trying to grab – I gave them some, sometimes chewed it a bit first if it was too hard. I did the some food on the tray and me spooning some in. My experience, with three of them, was that I couldn't spoon it in fast enough in the early stages of giving them food other than breast milk. My mum did exactly the same, except perhaps for the chewing first. It's nothing new.

In the early weeks DD was worried that DGS wasn't getting the hind milk. I did point out that she and her brother were small we didn't know about such things and changed sides halfway though and they both grew OK!
Judging by the state of her fridge my DD isn't too worried about sell by dates.

I do really envy DD that lovely wrap though.

Although I laugh at some of the things I hear, I have to say I'm impressed by how much thought this generation of mums (I'm not sure dads have caught on yet) seem to be putting into looking after their babies. I feel sorry for them because they are bombarded on all sides by different 'experts' and I think it takes determination to wade through all the crap and decide for yourself how you want to do it. My DD is already far more knowledgeable than I was at that stage and she and her partner are doing a fantastic job. So let's hear it for the parents of today!