The business of giving babies an 'airing' is still preoccupying sections of the press
And again there is horror at the idea that they were left alone. Well they were asleep, usually. Though even when awake babies are often more than able to amuse themselves
Another element of baby care then which has of course more or less completely disappeared is the use of older siblings or neighbourhood children to keep an eye on baby
In the the age of 2-children-3-years apart families of course there wont be any siblings old enough to take any such responsibility
One of the, to me, most disconcerting facts about modern parenting is that, for many people, the first baby they ever hold is their own
The worst danger to babies sleeping in the garden in fact came from cats, who were well known (allegedly) to be in the habit of jumping into the pram & scratching the babys face, or even suffocating it
But the 1950s equivalent of Mothercare could provide special nets to fix over the hood to avert this
Trust the British to hide even their babies behind net curtains
