Originally Posted by tesspug

I breastfed my daughter until she weaned herself at around 10 months. She took to biting me for some weird reason and I would pull away and say no. She would cry. After two or three times she just decided not to even try any more. We switched to a glass. I chose breast feeding because it's always there, no dishes to do, always the correct temperature and it made me feel like a true Earth mother. Also provided early immunity. But every mother has to decide what is best for her and her child.

Originally Posted by Jane Quilter

I was lazy, so I breast fed both girls until they pushed away, & drank whole milk from a cup....it was over a year. I mashed up table food to eat with a spoon and let them eat small table food that they ate with their fingers. I never fed them processed food, and I still don't serve it 40 years later. Lazy me used paper diapers, and cloth bibs. After weaning, my boobs produced milk and leaked for over 3 months.....I could have been a wet nurse. Nursing was easy and I had too much milk.

Originally Posted by maviskw

I breast-fed all eight of mine for about 9 months, but I made sure that they all knew how to take a feeding out of a bottle from the time they were really small. I never got the hang of pumping by hand. When I wanted to go somewhere, the baby sitter could feed the baby with a bottle, and I was free for the evening. That happened about once or twice a month.

We had disposable diapers 60 years ago, and liners, too. I used them for a few days when the babies just came home from the hospital. After that it was all cloth diapers hung on the line in the sunshine to dry.

Originally Posted by Irishrose2

I breast fed all of five of my children for 6 months each, then switched to formula in glass bottles. They were given one 4 ounce bottle a day of water or formula from birth so they would become accustomed to taking a bottle. The nipples were breast shaped which probably helped. I was a huge milk producer which was convenient for at least two. When #1 one was in the hospital, there was a little boy not making it so they used my oversupply of milk to keep him alive. After I went home, I pumped milk for him - the hospital provided sterilized bottles and a cooler for transport. My MIL worked at the hospital, so it just went to work with her. A bother? yes, but he lived and eventually they found food he could tolerate. Daughter #2 was a projectile vomiter, so her first meal came back up and I had to feed her again. The second meal stayed down. Weird. So I needed lots of milk as she was a big girl with a healthy appetite, as were #1 and #5 (boy). #3 And #4 were moderate eaters. Why nurse a baby in the era when it wasn't popular? Economical, always ready, good for the baby and the mother and ever so satisfying emotionally for both.
Baby food - Gerber did a good enough job until they could eat what we ate - probably about a year.
Diapers - soft flannel that had to be folded. No disposables in 1958. The 1967 baby had the first ones, but they were too bulky as she was tiny. The 1971 baby wore disposables when we traveled. He was not tiny!
Bibs - anything, cloth first, then plastic or terry with plastic backing.
What do 'modern' babies have that I covert?? Nothing, really. I think they have too much. I would have liked a swing for my earlier ones. A highchair, a bouncy chair, a crib, a stroller, a blanket on the floor and a swing for the later ones was enough paraphernalia.

Originally Posted by kristijoy

I have one son...he's 10 now. I breast fed him until age 2 1/2 at which point I had emergency surgery and had to wean him overnight. Otherwise I think we would've gone to age 3. I never thought I would breastfeed that long, but I'm glad I did. He and I have a wonderful relationship and I attribute alot of that to the time we nurtured our relationship while he was young.

Having said that though...I don't get on my high horse about breastfeeding. My sister breastfed one of hers but not the other. The second one that was bottle fed developed a wonderful relationship with Dad because they spent time together bottle feeding. Both are beautiful teens now.

You have to do what works for you and your family.

My son never did take a bottle, he wanted it straight from Mom. Now though he is a BIG cow's milk drinker and still has his cup of milk before bed every night.

Baby food...he wasn't much into baby food. He started that pretty late, so he went to small 'real' things pretty quickly like cheerios, pieces of pineapple, banana, cottage cheese. My husband absolutely hated this stage. My hubby doesn't do 'messy' that well...and ....babies learn to eat by being messy!! LOL!

Originally Posted by quiltingshorttimer

I bottle fed both (30's now) with those Playtex bottles that had a plastic liner that collapsed as they drank and didn't require boiling everything to sterilize. I had C-sections with both--the 2nd was a VERY difficult attempt at a vaginal delivery before an emergency C-section and I was in bad,bad shape when I got home--staph infection too. I also went back to work 6 weeks after first and 5 weeks after 2nd. And at that time teachers that breast fed better plan on pumping during lunch only in the bathroom--so using bottles were a no-brain decision.

no bibs until they started eating cereal and baby food--which for that generation was discouraged until about 5 months old--but my son started draining and collapsing bottles at about 8 weeks and always hungry so Dr gave ok to go ahead with cereal.

Both my kids where cloth diaper babies at home--doubled at night--but daycare insisted on disposables which were not very good then. With first baby, my MIL gave us 12 weeks of diaper service--what a blessing! I would just set the diaper pail on front porch and would get a sack of fresh, folded diapers each week--especially wonderful for a Mom recovering from a C-section, with a baby and a 40+ week job. Wish they had that kind of service now.

Originally Posted by christinelf

All three of mine were bottle fed. The first I thought was nursing OK, but not so. She slurped up formula at her 2 week check up, she was hungry! (she had lost weight). An old farm boy friend said I was an "udder failure"! LOL! With my first child I used the Heinz dried baby food flakes, and liked them. Wish they weren't discontinued. Probably didn't make enough profit on them. I also gound up/blended table food, froze it in ice cube trays, and warmed up as needed. I used plastic bottles, mainly the larger ones. And used cloth bibs, when older a molded plastic bib, with "trough" to catch the dropped food that didn't reach the floor for the dog! And used cloth diapers, with pins and plastic covers. When they were older I used disposables at night, the cloth ones couldn't hold enough.

Originally Posted by Fizzle

Nursed first baby for 10 mts. Second baby came along 19 mts apart. Too stressed too nurse so went bottle. Powder formula. Made up a days worth of bottles to help with stress levels . I am gramma now. Much less stress!!!

Originally Posted by Endora

- Which method of feeding did you rely on when raising your family?

- Any particular reason as to why you chose one over the other?

- Did anyone make their own homemade formula and baby food?

- Did you use glass or plastic baby bottles?

- Did anyone opt for the smaller 4 oz bottles at the start?

- As an added question, did you use cloth or vinyl bibs at feeding time?