Jill Sparrow 10,307 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 Just been reading the news about the current Baby Show at Olympia. Astounded at the price of designer baby beds, etc. I spent my early months in a wicker moses basket on a stand. It had been used by my older sister eight years earlier and the same mattress, blankets and sheets were no doubt pressed into service again for me. The same applied to my pram and cot. There was no messing around with cot bumpers which have been declared safe/unsafe more times than most babies have had hot dinners and I also had pillows which are now a definite no no! As to the hot water bottle I snuggled up with, horror of horrors...nowadays, baby must not get too hot! A good friend of mine experienced a traumatic birth and was put on one side as virtually dead and unrecoverable. Her grandmother, a former suffragette and nurse, picked her up by the ankles, gave her a good whack, smothered her in goose grease and then wrapped her gasping little body in good old brown paper. She was then put to bed in a dresser drawer! All this took place in 1940 at Shakespeare Villas. Said friend is still here to tell the tale. Apparently, you can now purchase a four poster crib for the princely sum of £14000! Come on, Nottstalgians, let's be knowing where your first place of repose was, even if it didn't cost an arm and a leg! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,600 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I had a normal size cot right from the beginning - the same one that my brother had used 7 years earlier. Don't know for certain but I expect it was the same mattress. No idea whether I had a pillow or not! I do remember the cot being in the same room as my parents' bed - I have a memory of waking up in the night crying, and my mum coming across the room to pick me up. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nonnaB 4,895 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 Where can you buy one Jill for next time I'm pregnant. I think I slept in a drawer for a while remember hearing a story like that. Here babies have the best of everything when they're born and laden up with gold chains, rings and earrings. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,307 Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I also had a wooden high chair, another hand me down from my sister! It was plain hard wood, no upholstery whatsoever. It was hinged in the middle and could fold in half to form a low chair on wheels. Trapped my little fingers in it more than once! Saw the identical model in an antiques centre in Matlock a few weeks ago! As for play pens, we didn't have one of those. I was just very closely supervised by the maternal eagle eye, entertained and chatted to as she did her daily chores. Probably explains why, by the age of 18 months, people were telling me to be quiet! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,600 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I had one of those high/low chairs, Jill, and my mum also just carried me around as she did the housework, or so I've been told Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,307 Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 Apparently, or so I'm told by a speech therapist friend, there is a real problem with children who cannot communicate verbally nowadays because no one ever talks to them. Incredible and extremely sad. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
radfordred 6,284 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 1 hour ago, Jill Sparrow said: There was no messing around with cot bumpers which have been declared safe/unsafe more times than most babies have had hot dinners and I also had pillows which are now a definite no no! As to the hot water bottle I snuggled up with, horror of horrors...nowadays, baby must not get too hot! Safe or unsafe back in our day there was no internet or mobile phone distractions, you looked after & watched your babies & kids not the telly. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
katyjay 5,091 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 Thanks to this thread Jill, I'm now driving myself barmy trying to think what my wicker crib was called. Mam didn't call it a Moses basket, but summat else. Darned if it will come to me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,429 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I think mine was a washing basket! I was lucky I didn't get dumped in the washing machine. Gives new meaning to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,307 Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 #8 Was it a bassinet, KJ? According to the news item, a solid gold bassinet is available for well heeled parents to purchase. I don't know how much it costs. As they say, if you need to ask the price, you can't afford it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
radfordred 6,284 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I think most modern day babies now sleep at there Grandma's? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 My crib was a big affair with wooden-rodded sides, one of which slid down. Haven't got a picture of it but have a picture of my first means of transport, date 1940 (and katyjay's), a Pedigree perambulator. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,307 Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 #2. ? Has the thread numbering gone awry? Is that you in the pram, Chulla? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,429 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 3 minutes ago, radfordred said: I think most modern day babies now sleep at there Grandma's? I did,. At least during the day and that was the 1940s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 The page number is 12, Jill - wave your cursor over the number at top right. Yes, that's me. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,307 Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 #15 You look as though you're about to give someone a rocket...or there's something in your nappy (that's a diaper to you, Loppy!) you want to have removed! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FLY2 10,108 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I think for the first few weeks of my life, I slept in the bottom drawer of a chest of drawers. On the floor I might add, not inside ! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,429 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I know what a nappy is, Jill. . First daughter was born in Bulwell y'know. what I'm dreading is the day when I might need one again. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 #12. Why are those windows boarded up Chulla ? Aspleh was OK in those days ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
katyjay 5,091 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 No, it wasn't anything as posh as a bassinet, Jill. It will come to me eventually. Chulla, any idea what that basket, downstairs in the corner, wi' me in it, was called? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 For a start it wasn't Aspley, it was Cinder Hill. It was 1940 and houses had blackout, which I assume this was part of. The photo was taken by a neighbour a couple of doors away, so it might have been taken outside his house. Edit. Not only can I not remember what it was called , I can't remember it at all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 I've always heard those baskets referred to as "Moses" baskets ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,307 Posted October 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 #18 I had no idea your eldest child was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, Loppy, aka a member of The Grand Order of Bulwellia! I am suitably impressed. The daughters of a friend of mine sent for a free sample of Tena Lady products which arrived, addressed to her, on her 50th birthday! Cruel! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 #21. Well Cinderhill aint a million miles away from Aspleh is it ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,429 Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 Highbury hospital if I remember rightly. Definitely in Bulwell anyway. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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