Growing Up in 1990s–2000s Korea: What Baby Care Looked Like Then

The millennial parents now raising babies in Korea — those born in the early-to-mid 1990s — were themselves raised in a completely different world of childcare. No car seats in the back seat, walkers rolling freely across ondol-heated floors, and grandmothers who pre-chewed rice before feeding it to babies. Not wrong — just the way things were done then.

The Podaegi: Korea's Original Hands-Free Carrier

The 포대기 (podaegi) was the essential piece of baby equipment for Korean mothers throughout the 1990s. This wide fabric wrap secured the baby to the mother's back, leaving both hands free for cooking, shopping at the market, and doing laundry — all with the baby present. In rural areas and single-income households, the podaegi was often the entire childcare setup.

What's striking today is that the Western parenting world has "rediscovered" this same concept under the name babywearing — and it's now promoted as a cornerstone of attachment parenting. Korean mothers were doing it instinctively for decades before it became a trend.

The Baby Walker: A Beloved Relic That's Now Banned in Some Countries

The wheeled baby walker was considered near-essential baby equipment in 1990s Korean homes. With a baby seated in the walker, parents could step away briefly, and the baby could push around the room with visible delight. Today, most pediatric associations actively advise against walkers. Research links them to staircase fall injuries and — more surprisingly — delayed walking development, since they allow babies to skip the crawling and pulling-up stages that build the muscles needed for independent walking. Canada banned their sale outright.

When Formula Was Considered Superior to Breast Milk

In 1990s Korea, there was a genuine cultural belief that formula was more nutritious than breast milk — a direct legacy of aggressive formula company marketing campaigns that swept through Asia in the 1970s and 1980s. Many grandparents from that era still hold this view today. The current scientific consensus, backed by the WHO and every major pediatric society, is that breast milk contains immune factors, antibodies, and living cells that formula cannot replicate — and breastfeeding for at least 6 months is recommended where possible.

Baekil and Dol: Celebrating Survival

Korea's tradition of celebrating 백일 (Baekil, the 100th day) and 돌 (Dol, the first birthday) with large gatherings was practiced in the 1990s just as it is today. The roots go back to an era of high infant mortality — surviving 100 days, and then a full year, was genuinely cause for celebration. Families would distribute white rice cakes and red bean rice cakes to neighbors on Baekil. At Dol, the 돌잡이 (doljabi) ritual — laying out objects like thread, money, books, and pencils for the baby to choose — was used to "predict" the child's future. Many Korean families still practice this today.

The Grandmother Era of Korean Childcare

In the 1990s and 2000s, most children from dual-income Korean families were raised primarily by a grandmother — usually the maternal one. Daycare was neither affordable nor widely available. Grandmother-era childcare had its own distinct character: feeding babies in front of the TV to distract them into eating more, going to a traditional medicine clinic before a pediatrician, and the ironclad rule that sitting on a cold floor would make you sick.

And Now Those Babies Are Parents

The children of the 1990s and 2000s are now the parents. They use car seats as a matter of course, swap walkers for play mats, and actively work to breastfeed. Yet they still distribute rice cakes at 100 days, still do the doljabi ritual at one year, and still half-believe their own parents' advice about cold floors. Culture changes and carries forward at the same time.