I still have my formula card from 1956, I will have to look at it to see what it says

I was breast fed as were my two kids.

I think if was evaporated milk, Karo syrup and water. Babies were also taken off formula and put on warmed cows milk much sooner in the 50's. Same for solids. Cereal at just a few weeks old.

My kids were exclusively breastfed. Same for my grands.

I was born in 53 and I honestly dont know what I was fed. I do know my mom always said that she had wanted to breastfeed me ( and my sister) but was very strongly discouraged by the doctors at the time. I think it was formula which was considered superior and newer and more advanced etc. Both of my daughters were nursed by me. My daughter is now feeding her own breast milk by bottle to her daughter. (she does not seem to nurse well or efficiently, but does take a bottle happily. it's funny because my older daughter absolutely would never take a bottle no matter what was in it. breast or sippy cup only.)

I don't hink I ever heard of the evaporated milk-karo syrup thing or even the cow;;s milk. I do remember hearing that cereal was given way earlier than nowadays.

None of this might have been ideal, but we all survived.

My first was breastfed for a time and then put on Wilson's evaporated milk, Karo and water. The next two were put on the same then onto soy milk. I think at about five months they were all put on cow's milk. The last one was only breast fed and did not have cow's milk until she was nearly a year old. Me, I was breast fed and I think fed mashed potatoes, ha, ha. I don't think I ever had any baby food way back then.

Sue

I was bottle fed with some kind of formula. That recipe for formula was very common...made with evaporated milk, karo and water. At some point I had goats milk too.

I was born in the 1940's, and my mother wanted to breastfeed but her doctor told her she didn't have enough milk. BAD advice! When I grew up I became a La Leche League Leader and contradicted a lot of bad advice from doctors. Anyway, my mom tried formula after formula, as none agreed with me. I had a lot of colic. At some point in adulthood I discovered I was allergic to a protein in cow's milk.

Breast milk -- from the breast, then from a bottle after I refused the breast following surgery for pyloric stenosis.

I was born in 1948. Mom tried to breast-feed me, didn't work. I had cow's milk, raw. Heated, Karo syrup added, then cooled some.

When I had my babies in 1970 and 1971, I tried breast-feeding both of them. My dr. said that was all I needed for birth control. So my kids are 10 months and 3 weeks apart. I tried breast-feeding the second one, but as soon as I got my period, he wouldn't drink the milk. So they both had the cows' milk the same way I had it. When I had the first baby, there were 3 of us in the same room. The other two women were shocked that I was going to nurse.

Then the nurse scolded me the first time I tried, because I wasn't doing it right. Things have sure changed!

I was born in 1922. Breast fed of course. My children were breast fed briefly, then put on a formula from Dr. Spock's Book of Baby and Child Care. They thrived on that. I felt that Dr. Spock made a lot of sense. I had briefly used the Better Homes and Gardens baby book. They recommended beginning toilet training at a few month's old. Forget that!

So many fads!! I relied on plain old common sense and my kids grew up fine.

Goes to show you what havoc Gloria Steinem and her brand of liberation did to women and their children. About as accurate as the killing of the unborn will not affect a woman's psyche. Load of CRAP. It would be helpful if the medical community did actual testing on large numbers of real women. My DH was 11lbs and fed Karo syrup concoction...I breast fed all of mine. It is unfortunate women are so gullible. HOW could breast milk NOT be best??

Breast fed...no bottle. The neighbor had twins I was friends with. After school, 1st grade, she fed us dixie cups with Lucky Charms and apple juice in a baby bottle. When my mom found out...all He&& broke loose. NO BOTTLES. The 1 twin still wore a binkie on a string around her neck. I never had one of those either.

My mother just couldn't breast feed period, so milk or formula was in our bottles. And believe it or not, sometimes a teaspoon or two of either coffee or tea with a sprinkle of sugar. Mom couldn't understand how anyone could drink 8 bottles of milk a day. lol And if it stunted my growth, THANK YOU MOM! I'm 5'9" which is plenty tall enough for me. :) And no, it never hurt my health (just got my blood work done: I'm extremely healthy!" I remember mom buying a powdered formula for my little sister. I can't remember the brand, but it's not made anymore.

They say children who are formula fed are prone to allergies. My younger sister has psoriasis. And she developed a minor case of asthma in her 40's. I had four children. I breast fed the last two (the 1st two were too premature to bottle or breast feed). Who has the allergies and asthma? The younger two who were breast fed... ;)

I was the only person breast feeding out of a nursery of 27 babies back in the 60's. They even tried to dry my milk up. It was never encouraged by pediatricians then. A pity. I loved it. My daughter didn't love it as much and didn't do it as long.

My formula was powdered dry milk, cut 8 times, plus Karo syrup. I also had bottles with sweet tea (I'm Southern, after all) and regular cow milk from about 6 months old. If the tea stunted my growth, I am ever-so thankful because I'm 5'7", which is a giant. Except in my family. I'm shorter than my mother was (she was 5'11") and also shorter than both of my grandmothers (5'8" and 5'9").

I was born in the late 60's. My mother was discouraged from breastfeeding. The hospital thought my stomach and esophagus were not properly connected until the doctor came in after I had projectile vomited and realized I was just allergic to milk. No surgery. Whew! I was given soy formula so thick it wouldn't come out a bottle nipple so I drank from a cup. There is video of me at a month old drinking from a cup.

I was breastfed in 1941 and nursed my children in the 1970s. My DD nursed her children too. DD's friend from work gave her an electric breast pump as a hand me down just before she had her first baby and quit to stay home with him. What a help that was for the times we babysat for a weekend so that they could get away. I too was a La Leche leader and made some good friends from our local group.

I and my next younger sibling were breast fed. The youngest three, and also my late husband and his two younger siblings, were bottle fed. My siblings were given baby formula, but my husband and his brothers were given the evaporated milk and corn syrup. I recall both my mother and my MIL talking about how much more convenient it was to give a baby a bottle--anyone could do it, and the canned milk/syrup/formula didn't need to be refrigerated. Guess who has had more problems with excessive weight gain as adults, allergies (one case of sarcoidosis, several of asthma), and hypertension? The bottle fed babies. There are other contributing factors, I'm sure, such as genetics--and my late MIL's smoking. She died from lung cancer, and my husband died, at age 53, from a massive and completely unexpected heart attack.

I'm the only one in my family who's had a T&A (when I was 6, for repeated croup and sore throats), and I'm carrying a few extra pounds--thank you, menopause and too much time spent on the computer : /--but otherwise healthy and taking no medications.

I breast fed my children, and my two grandsons have been breast fed. My youngest child has asthma, so the genetic predisposition was too strong to overcome--plus we live in the damp and moldy Ohio valley. She used an emergency inhaler occasionally for several years, but has never been on maintenance meds, and has never been hospitalized--if I hadn't breast fed her, I think she might have had a much more severe case, as did her father. Even though she was breast fed for 18mos, she has lactose intolerance--can't figure that one out.

Each person/case is individual, of course, but I think, in general, the milk/syrup of the 50's, and free and easy formula provided to low income families, is partially to blame for the obesity epidemic in this country.

Sorry, all you asked was what was in my baby bottle.

I still remember the 13 year old boy who still insisted on breast feeding & never stopped. They were on the Phil Donahue show. I think when your old enough to ask for it, then it's time to stop.

Pawprint, I don't know if you're male or female (care to share?), but lots of breastfed toddlers are "old enough to ask for it"--and do!

No doubt it, breast feeding is the healthiest way to go for the mother and the baby. As for convenience, although my mother breast fed me because it's what was done back then, I thought about convenience among the pros. I rolled over and grabbed my baby from the bassinet and nursed her. I didn't need to get out of bed, make formula and heat a bottle. My babies never had any bottle of any kind They went from the breast to a cup at 7 months. Both are healthy skinny adults with no allergies or any health problems.

No clue. Not something I ever thought to ask my mother.

Both my sister and I were home birthed on a farm during the Depression. Our first feedings were breast milk but soon switched to raw cow's milk. The milk was warmed on a wood burning stove and after a few weeks, warming was omitted. Why? We milked a few cows and cow's milk was available at low cost, costing mostly labor. We were raised under near pioneer conditions. At that time, children who had problems with that venue were very sickly or died.

Ali, I'm male but wasn't breastfed. I'm sure I asked for my bottle tho even though it was full of lambs base. Gross. But it's the only thing I wasn't allergic to.

I have no idea what I was fed but I pray it wasn't (and am pretty sure it wasn't) breast milk. Mother was an alcoholic and chain smoker....we were lucky to be born with few serious problems, but the last two of us were quite underweight.

My grandmother was very domineering of her daughters. I can't imagine that she would have 'allowed' a daughter to breastfeed a baby. Her own children were raised by nannies and housekeepers; she never welcomed a sticky, wriggly grandchild into her stiffly girdled lap and perfumed arms.

That's sad, Rhizo. I'm glad you found your own path.

I believe my sisters and I were also given the Karo formula--ugh. Two of us have allergies, one rather severely.

Rhizo, I'm sorry about your family situation but I sure can see the problems stopped with you! I can't even imagine refusing to hold a baby or young child. I got to hold a friend's infant a few weeks ago and was in hog heaven.

My sister breastfed & was VERY cautious of her intake. She took zero medicine, alcohol or smoke. She knew what ever was in her system would pass to the milk. So she suffered headaches without Tylenol or Aleve.

She works full time, she's a doctor and medical director at a hospital in Phoenix, so she pumped her milk every few hours. She even had a pump that plugged into the cigarette lighter outlet in the car so she was able to pump on her daily commute to & from work.

I don't know, and I'd bet a dollar my mom doesn't remember either. I breast fed my son until he teethed, and we had formula the last three or four months until switching to cow's milk. So a combo!

I drank from my mother's breast. I breast fed my daughter. I would have no more have given her a bottle of formula than I would have given her a bottle of coca cola. I am happy to say my daughter never had one drop of formula and never had a pacifier. If she wanted to nurse....I was available 24/7.

Neither of my kids ever had a bottle in their life. Once I had mastitis in one

breast so I offered a bottle to my daughter who gagged and projectile vomited.

I know that my sister was bottle fed from a story handed down in my immediate family. We lived on a small farm 10 miles from town. This was the Depression Days and it was lucky if we got to town once a week, but only if we had a few dollars to pay for essentials. We did on occasion go to a country store that was 4 miles from our house. An emergency developed one winter day. My sister was hungry and the last bottle nipple had ripped. Mother, being a resourceful farm wife, substituted the human baby nipple with a farm animal rescue nipple. That thing was larger, thick, and tough akin to an inner tube for an auto tire. Mother did not know if sister would accept this new, rough thing, but after a few starts, hunger took over and she gobble a serving of milk - The day was saved.

That old tough nipple was used for about 3 days until Mother could get to town and resupply with human baby bottle nipples. A new human baby nipple was put on the next bottle of milk and my Sister refused it! She would have nothing except the texture of that rough, tough, animal rescue nipple! LOL. That was workable except Mother was embarrassed to take a bottle to church with an animal nipple on it. She had no choice. It was to take that nipple along or not go to church. She did her best to hide that nipple from view, but that was difficult to do since it was an ugly black thing whereas regular nipples had natural coloration of rubber gum. Once the substitution was discovered by Mother's church Sisters, she had to tell what had happened: They understood and smiled . . . broadly.

I know my mom started out breastfeeding me but then went to formula a few months later. As far as I know I never got the karo home mix but I have heard her talk about that being given to siblings when she was a kid.

Hubby was started on solids very early. Rice cereal in the bottle and jarred food at 3 months which just seems insane to me but he obviously survived though he was in and out of hospitals a lot as a child.

Our first was breastfed until 4 months, then supplemented with formula until a year old. Next two were exclusively breastfed, never even had a bottle. Went straight from breast to cup. Fourth was breastfed exclusively until 7 months, then supplemented with formula until a year old.

None of our kids have any allergies or health problems.

oh joan! poor baby! we thought the same....I was breast fed for a while? not sure how long (1946) at least my mother quit smoking while preggers....breast fed dd1 but mom scared me she wasn'y getting enough? but did it for 6 months with ds1....when we had twins I tried for a while but was so tired I quit, sigh...ds1 has been the healthiest....

The pediatrician put my son on rice cereal at three weeks!! Fruit at 4...

My mother adopted the first two, so bottle. 2% milk with corn syrup added, if they looked pale then blackstrap molasses was added for iron. By 3 months if the bottle didn't "hold" the baby long enough, rice cereal was added LOL. Us next two my mother gave birth to, but her milk never came in. My sister and I had the same problem when our kids were born....no milk. I was horrified when I read the ingredients on the side of formula containers - I might as well have been feeding my child non-dairy coffee creamer! I chose the best of the bad bunch (at the time it was a Carnation product) . My sister was born with Failure to Thrive and was to be left to die as she would not suck. They brought her home and dripped milk in her mouth for hours on end. One day she must have figured it out, as she sucked back the bottle so fast she had sweat droplets on her nose! She never looked back after that. They had to put her on skim milk, as she went from a tiny half dead baby bird to the Michelin man ;).

Dances.

Oh Dances. That's a terrible story, but happy ending. Don't they insert a feeding tube now if the baby has failure to thrive? Gosh that's sad.

Born in '29 ... don't know, but am fairly sure that I was breastfed.

Our kids were some of each. (I think).

ole joyfuelled ... who has been a substantial consumer of cow's milk for lo! these many years

formula, Similac i think