Breast is best?

Not for royalty – or at least not until the 20th century. Breastfeeding was taboo, and was seen as repulsive, inconvenient and downright dangerous. Upper class women appointed other upper class women (though not as upper class as themselves, obviously) as wet nurses to feed the baby.

They weren’t allowed garlic, spices or alcohol in case these affected the flavour of their milk. What an exciting diet that would have been. In the 18th century, babies were suckled on a range of pointy objects like horns and pickled cow nipples, which sounds a bit painful and not very appetising. They were given cow or goat milk rather than human milk or, alternatively, honey and sugar water for the first month; then thin oatmeal porridge or flour or cereal mixed into a hot broth. Thank goodness powdered milk came along in the 19th century.

Attitudes had changed by the 20th century, so the Queen, Princess Diana and Kate are all believed to have breastfed their babies. However, as every exhausted mother knows, just because you breastfeed your first child doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll breastfeed your subsequent ones. Five a day Darren McGrady, a former royal chef known as, er, ‘The Royal Chef’ has reportedly said that Princes William and Harry were fed fruit and vegetable purees. OK, so all babies are fed fruit and veg purees – but this was no ordinary supermarket baby food. The nanny would select a ‘daily menu’ and send it over to the kitchens, often consisting of apples and pears from the Queen’s Sandringham estate, steamed, mashed and sieved twice to remove the lumps. As the babies got older, one chef in the palace kitchen would puree chicken, lamb or beef; and another would do the same with cooked vegetables such as peas, carrots and cauliflower – and then the two would be mixed together. The new royal baby is likely to be fed on organic produce championed by Prince Charles.

As another former royal chef, Carolyn Robb, has pointed out, much of it may come from the gardens and orchards of the royal estates – for instance, lamb from Highgrove and milk from the cows kept there. Although Kate, who’s fond of eating healthily, would have some input into the baby’s diet, the nanny would have the upper hand. Kate is less formal and more hands-on than previous royal mums, so she may in fact have fewer chefs and nannies and rely more on her mother Carole Middleton’s advice. Whatever the new baby eats, they’ll be introduced to a wide range of flavours at an early age in order to prepare them for a lifetime of travelling and eating adventurously around the world.

source: metro.co.uk

Baby vocabulary. Can you match the words and their Hungarian meaning?

Key

1. d. 2. a. 3. g. 4. b. 5. c. 6. j. 7. e. 8. i. 9. f. 10. h.

– It looks like a map from Dungeons and Dragons.

– Except that the creature in the crib is a level nine poop monster.

– Okay now you check foot squeaks and I will mark them down

– Okay space A3 here we go… It’s squeaky, mark it

– It’s nice to think that you grew up in this room and now your daughter is going to as well

– Well I hope she has the same amount of sex in it I did. Now next square

– Why are you bouncing your hands in the air like that?

– It’s a tradition of my people: “If I were a rich man…”

– “Material Girl” needs to be retired that is your karaoke song

– So what we did was map out the entire room to identify every squeak but it’s easy once you get the hang of it. Step! Step! Hop, I got it!

– Don’t do that on the soft side …. I almost broke my neck

– Then simply sit, spin, stand, stretch … maybe elusive pants then step grab tiny pivot, pull and you’re there. Easy peasy, mac and you get the idea.

– You actually expect me to do this while holding a baby in the dark?

– Hold on…I don’t think she was impressed

-… bigger problems…I felt something popped.

Can you fill in the gaps in the sentences from the script?

1. All we need to do is plot out where each …… is.

2. We can find a quiet path to the …… .

3. Why are you …… your hands in the air like that?

4. It’s a …… of my people.

5. I almost broke my ….. .

Key

1. squeak

2. crib

3. bouncing

4. tradition

5. neck

It can sometimes be hard to decipher what is good advice and what is not-so-great advice. Who do you trust? Do you trust Mom? Do you trust your pediatrician? Do you trust that medical essay you read online last week?

Sometimes, it might be best to follow your instinct and go with a mix of facts provided to you. Other times, your doctor’s advice is the best. It’s confusing for sure, but having and raising a baby is one of the most difficult things anyone can ever do.

These 10 pieces of advice for new mothers from way, way back may downright shock you. I think it’s safe to assume that mothers today from all different types of parenting styles would say that these “rules” are absolutely out of this world.

1. Potty Train At 2 Months

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were full of theories and ideas about the bowels and how they affected health. It was thought that attempting to control the bowels of an infant would help stave off diarrhea-causing infections. New mothers were instructed to hold their babies over their chamber pots at appointed times of the day in the hopes of potty training them.

2. Oil Up The Newborn

Instead of using soap and water for the first week, mothers were instructed to use lard, olive oil, or fresh butter to “clean” their babies.

3. Give The Baby Beer

To be totally fair, the water in the Middle Ages was riddled with dangerous diseases and bacteria, and absolutely no one drank water. The ale that they drank was low in alcohol, but the thought of giving an infant beer is very, very foreign and highly discouraged today for obvious reasons.

4. Give The Baby Gin, Too

Water and milk were contaminated in 18th-century England, so the poorer classes drank gin. A lot of gin. It was cheap, it was clean, and it helped them cope with their objectively miserable lives. Babies were not excluded from the gin craze during this time.

5. Avoid Kissing, Hugging, Or Playing With The Baby

In 1916, a psychologist named John Watson said that showing affection for the baby or child would wreck their nerves, whatever that means.

6. Avoid Breastfeeding While Angry

It was believed that thinking mean or angry thoughts toward anyone or anything while breastfeeding would give the baby colic. No nagging, either!

7. Cut Off Breastfeeding At 9 Months

Doctors also thought that breastfeeding after 9 months would give the baby brain disease, while also making the mother go blind.

8. Put Them In A Cage Suspended High Above A City Street

The 1930s brought about a terrifying trend: the baby cage. These contraptions would be fixed to an apartment window and protrude outwards. The baby could sit or crawl in it to get fresh air while the parents were able to stay in the house. Terrifying.

9. Promise The Baby As A Spouse

In many points throughout history, royal families would form alliances and make deals by promising their newborn baby as a husband or wife to another royal family’s child. It was all about the business.

10. Avoid Going Anywhere Near Them

A short-lived trend in the 18th century dictated that only men had the reasoning power and logic to raise a baby. Mothers were to stay out of it because of their “small brains” and inability to think with their minds. We all know why that phase ended quickly.

source: littlethings.com

Can you match the different stages of life with the age range they cover?

Key

1. d.

2. e.

3. b.

4. c.

5. f.

6. a.

My sister, Susan, got pregnant in October and her baby was born in July. She waited until the second trimester to tell people the good news, as by then there is less risk of having a miscarriage. During the pregnancy she had terrible morning sickness and she also had cravings for pickles and iced tea.

Susan and her husband, Brian, prepared their house before she went into hospital. They decorated the nursery, and also bought some baby equipment, such as a baby bath, a changing mat, a baby carrier, a cot, a mobile and some soft toys. They got quite a lot of baby clothes from their friends and family, so they didn’t have to buy any.

The birth itself was uncomplicated. She went into labour at around midnight, and the baby was born shortly after at 7 a.m. She didn’t feel too much pain, although she hadn’t asked for an epidural.

Instead, the doctor put her on oxytocin drips to make the contractions come a little quicker. Her midwife was with her during the birth, just to make sure that everything went well. Luckily, it was a normal delivery and she didn’t need a Caesarean section. The doctor cut the cord and put the baby on her chest so that she can try to breastfeed the baby.

to get pregnant– teherbe esni
to be born – megszületni
trimester – trimeszter
to have a miscarriage  – elvetélni
morning sickness – reggeli rosszullét
craving – kívánósság
nursery – gyerekszoba
baby bath – babakád
changing mat  – pelenkázó matrac
baby carrier – gyerekhordozó
cot – kiságy
mobile – forgó (kiságy felett)
uncomplicated – komplikációmentes
to go into labour – megindul a szülés
epidural – epidurális érzéstelenítés
drips  – infúzió
contractions – összehúzódás, fájás
midwife – szülésznő
delivery – szülés
Caesarean section – császármetszés
to cut the cord – elvágja a küldökzsinórt

Fill the gaps with the words given!

a) birth, b) child, c) preschool, d) kindergarten, e) bottle, f) stroller, g) diapers, h) pacifier, i) crawl, j) parents, k) maternity ward, l) labour ,m) gynaecologist, n) godparents, o) pampers, p) relatives

The ………. (1) of a ………. (2) is always a happy event. But having children brings many challenges to the ………. (3), of course . After many visits to the ………. (4) the big day arrives. Parents usually rush to the ………. (5), often with some ………. (6) coming along to support them. The soon-to-be-mother goes into ………. (7), which can last for a very long time, mostly if it’s the first time for the new mother. Many parents choose ………. (8) from among their family or friends. For the first few years changing the ………. (9) can be a challenge – even though the use of ………. (10) has made their task easier. A baby will often cry until the ………. (11) or ………. (12) is in his or her mouth. One of the most important things to buy is the ………. (13), which allows parents to continue to go about daily tasks. Soon the child begins to ……… (14), and, before you know it, the child is walking! After a few years, parents begin to think about school. Before elementary school begins, children sometimes first go to ……..(15), but usually go to ……… (16) before their first day in “real” school.

1) birth
2) child
3) parents
4) gynaecologist
5) maternity ward
6) relatives
7) labour
8) godparents
9) diapers
10) pampers
11) bottle/ pacifier
12) pacifier/ bottle
13) stroller
14) crawl
15) kindergarten
16) preschool