Back in early times baby care was very important as it still should be today. The comfort and warmth or coolness of the baby was extremely important. They used practical wisdom and food, clothing, fresh air, bathing and cleanliness was of most importance.
The baby was to be given pure outdoor air both night and day. They did not put too much clothing on a baby. The clothing was simple, warm, light in weight and not too tight fitting. Baby clothes have changed very much since the old times.
Great care was taken with diapers. We used the softest cotton cloth and changed it as soon as the baby urinated or had a bowel movement. The bowel was discarded and the diaper placed in a bucket with water and baking soda. A soaking solution of 2 teaspoons baking soda to a quart of water was put in a bucket for soaking the diapers and then a tight lid was placed on the container.
The soaking solution was rinsed out and diapers were washed as soon as possible with a gentle soap and very hot water. Great care was taken when rinsing the diapers to make sure all of the soap was removed. The diapers were dried on a line in the sunshine. Before washers, once a week the diapers were boiled and if the child was sick special cloths (for diapers) were used so the sickness would not spread to the clean regular diapers. The diapers used during the sickness were boiled and washed thoroughly and hung in the sunshine and fresh air for several days before considering them sanitized.
The babies night clothes were hung out to air during the day if the weather permitting this was considered air cleaning the clothing.
It was suggested to bathed a baby every morning but to wait at least an hour after feeding and special attention was given to clean the folds of the skin. If the weather was hot the baby was bathed more times during the day so the baby did not overheat and it was recommended to sponge the neck and feet of a baby over twelve months old with cool water at night and briskly rub the feet.
Even during very hard times mothers took great care with their babies.
Life was simple but then as time went by mothers and fathers became big targets for marketing. Companies started looking at opportunity for new inventions and boy did they ever invent baby items......................
These two babies did just fine without disposable diapers and all the many things that there are today.
Baby showers always included packages of cloth diapers with a few packs
of diaper pins and some rubber pants. Glass baby bottles were always
used and simple baby items like blankets, clothing and crib sheets and cloth diapers were
the most used items.
I truly feel taking care of a baby was easier back when I had my babies and that now there are too many complicated baby items.
If our ancestors could see all the baby items people buy for their babies now they would be shocked.
Babies were carried by the parents, in their arms. There were no baby carriers but there were strollers and a good thing for these two heavy weights.
Babies were watched over by parents, aunts and uncles and they were not distracted by electronics because there were none. The baby was the center of attention as it should be. It is sad to me to watch a mother or father using an electronic and a baby doing everything it can to get their attention. The only thing I can do about this is post how it was living in the past.
This picture is me taking dry clothes and diapers off the line.. Check out my article washing clothes without a washer or dryer. It is under the living like the past section.
Please do not copy any pictures on my website because they are very important to me. Thank you, Gdonna
