Nurse Unearths Grandma's 1965 Texas Hospital Booklet Packed With Outdated Advice For New Mothers

News18

03-05-2025

The booklet shared by the nurse on social media contains surprising advice, such as waiting 21 days before taking car rides and 118 days before driving a car.
A nurse in the US recently discovered an old sheet of paper from 1965 that has sparked amusement on social media. Traci Clark found a 60-year-old hospital discharge booklet while sorting through her grandmother's belongings, which contained outdated medical advice for new mothers.
Titled 'Home Instructions For The New Mother,' the booklet, which she shared with her followers on Instagram, included surprising advice, such as waiting 21 days before taking car rides or climbing stairs, and 118 days before driving a car. The three-page document was given to her grandmother after she gave birth in Houston, Texas.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), she shared the video of the booklet, writing, 'Giving birth in Texas in 1965 earned you a three page pamphlet!" In the video clip, Clark said, 'We're going through my grandmother's stuff, and I just found her discharge instructions. She was in bed 327A."
She further read aloud some of the directions mentioned in the booklet, which vary from perplexing to weird. 'When the baby is 21 days old, you may take a car ride. How were they supposed to get to the hospital before that?" Clark asked.
'And then, I don't know what this is — 118 days old, they may drive a car? Could they drive a car before that? This is so confusing," she added.
The nurse then pointed out another instruction, 'At 21 days old, you may walk up and down the stairs. How was she supposed to get into her house before that? This is awful."
The booklet further mentioned 'sleeping" as one of the special exercises. To which Clark said, 'This is my favourite—special exercises: sleeping."
the post quickly went viral and gained about 1.2 million views on the social media platform. The clip has also raised several questions on the surprising medical advice given half a century ago. Many users shared personal anecdotes, highlighting the differences between then and now.
'Wish I would have had this pamphlet to throw in their face!" a user wrote, while another said, 'A lot better than what we get now."
'At least they emphasised rest, now they expect you to go back to work like nothing happened," read another comment.
In a similar incident, a resident of Chile, Exequiel Hinojosa, became a millionaire overnight due to an old piece of paper. While clearing his house, he found a 62-year-old passbook of his father, who had deposited about Rs 1.4 lakh in the bank in the 1960s-70s.
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