ALCOHOL AND MOTHERHOOD THROUGH THE AGES

Mid-1800s

Alcohol was once seen as a useful sedative for mothers with teething or colicky babies. Many swore by a nip of whisky rubbed on sore gums. Some used syrups or tonics, which claimed to be medicinal but were alcoholbased. Letters in praise of something called Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup appeared in The New York Times in the mid-1800s. The advertising presented idyllic images of mothers and children, but the primary ingredients were alcohol and morphine. It was still available to buy as recently as 1930.

Late 1800s

Gripe water was registered as a trademark in 1871 by William Woodward, an English pharmacist, who had invented it after an outbreak of malaria, when he noted that the formula used to treat malaria was also an effective “soother of fretful babies”. The original Woodward’s Gripe Water contained 3.6 per cent alcohol and was marketed with the slogan “Granny told Mother and Mother told me.” You can still buy gripe water, though now it’s alcohol-free.

1950s

In the Fifties, pregnant women were encouraged to smoke because it calmed them down. Doctors would even offer women a cigarette during a consultation.

1960s

By the midsixties, some doctors believed alcohol was a useful muscle relaxant during labour. Dr Janet Golden, who wrote Message in a Bottle, a book about the history of alcohol and pregnancy, said that in the United States “at the better hospitals, women in labour might be handed a vodka and orange juice”.

1980s

Up until the Eighties, pregnant women and nursing mothers in Britain were given Guinness (as were blood donors and post-operative patients) based on a belief that stout was high in iron and therefore nutritious.