‘Do Not Smoke While Baby Is in the Room’ and Other Hospital Rules New Moms Had to Follow

In 1968, not only was it acceptable for a new mother to smoke within mere hours of giving birth, but she could even light a cigarette from the comfort of her hospital bed—as long as her newborn baby wasn’t in the room.

Last year, Micala Henson took to Facebook to share an image of the instructions her grandmother had received from the hospital upon giving birth to Henson’s mother in October 1968. The post went viral, and people have continued to comment on the painfully obsolete and medically questionable guidelines well into 2020.

While “Do not smoke while baby is in the room” stands out as perhaps the worst health advice on the list, other rules reveal how much our culture has changed in the last 50 years. Fathers, for example, were strictly prohibited from sitting in the room when their wives were nursing, and visitors could only see babies “on display” at the nursery window during specific (and very restrictive) time slots.

The 'new mother' hospital rules that Micala Henson's grandmother received in 1968. | Micala Henson

The nursing schedule itself was exceptionally strict, too. Nurses would bring the baby to its mother four times a day, and the mother could only nurse for a certain number of minutes at a time—five during the first 24 hours, then seven during the second and third days, and finally 10 to 15 minutes for the fourth and fifth days.

“If baby nurses longer,” the instructions state, “It may cause the nipple to become sore.” These days, experts say infants are allowed to feed eight to 12 times a day, or whenever they’re hungry.

There’s also a brief, baffling list of foods nursing mothers should avoid, including chocolate candy, raw apples, cabbage, nuts, strawberries, cherries, onions, and something called “green cocoanut cake.” We can only guess what hospital staff meant by that last item, but some Easter cakes do feature green coconut shavings that look like grass. Today, the CDC recommends that new moms eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, but avoid seafood (due to the risks of mercury poisoning) and caffeine.

As long as new mothers are eating a variety of healthy foods, they’re probably entitled to a piece of coconut cake or two.