Laying here, holding onto the floor after drinking half a glass of Sanatogen tonic wine (i can’t drink). This is/was the go-to-drink when ever we were children and we got a cold, we would always get half a plastic cup (mickey mouse beaker) of this and if we had a stomach bug we would get half a cup of guinness (i’d get half a cup and a plastic bucket as it always made me puke).

Not till years later did i discover that this was not a normal parenting method as the Guinness and Sanatogen had no medicianl benefits, and was just a way to shut your kids up and make them sleep 🙁

Did anyone elses folks chuck alcohol down there childrens throats for medicinal purposes.

A bit of cotton wool soaked with whisky was the tonic for toothache.

I am told that scotch whiskey was used to soothe my sore gums when I was teething. My parents say that this is what the doctor told them to do.

Grrr!

😛

All our family holidays were Eurocamp-type camping trips to France. I’m told that when I was a baby my folks used to feed me a small amount of beer to knock me out in an evening, so they could go and have a quiet beer or two at the bar (with me sparko in the tent!) Quality parenting 😯 Having said that, I turned out ok, so maybe it wasn’t all that bad…

I’ve half a memory of something called ‘gripe water,’ supposed to be to stop kids, well, griping. It was basically alcohol and bicarb, so shut them up by giving them an antacid and getting them trousered. Simpler times. (-:

Sweet sherry and Commanderia (sp) at our house. Helped by the fact that dad brought demijohns of the stuff back from postings to Cyprus.

Plus home made wine with meals, then sweet German wine, then weened on to nicer wines.

No one in our family drank much at a time, but I don’t remember ever not being allowed to try alcohol, certainly from age 6-7. I still don’t/can’t drink much though.

Milk, raw egg and sweet sherry as a supplement. 😀

Yeah I had whisky for toothache too.

As kids we were often given toddy (which is basically whisky, hot water and sugar) when we had colds.

I thought these days you gave kids Calpol

As a pretty young kid (primary school age) I can remember sharing a can of Sweetheart Stout & lemonade with my mum on a fairly frequent basis. That and Bass shandy….

Stuff alcohol, might as well just start them on the hard stuff 😆

My grandmother used to give us sweetened warm milk and brandy when ever we stayed over at theirs, I always used to see it as a treat, with hindsight I think it was just to ensure that we stayed a sleep.

I remember having sherry for a sore throat if it was keeping me awake…

All fairly tame compared to the Victorian’s use of laudanum. This ‘aspirin of the nineteenth century’ was a tincture of opium mixed with alcohol, and freely available from chemists.

German supermarkets sell Kinderwine. No idea how strong it is, probably be an uproar if Lidl sold it in UK.

I misinterpreted the thread title initially and was going to say ours were conceived after red wine.

gripe water, as cougar says – was about 6% abv IIRR

My dad used to give us whisky for toothaches and brandy&Benylin when we had colds

My wife drinking a few glasses of champagne used to give us a less interrupted night’s sleep when she was breast feeding.

My Nan had a bottle of Laudanum in the bathroom cabinet, it was pretty crusty but still had ‘stuff’ in it. handed down from her mum…

So i guess getting your kids sloshed was normal child care 😯

Another drink my mother gave us was Guinness, raw egg yolk and milk. All this was mixed in a baby bottle and fed to us.

Apparently we got cherry liqueur when younger. Probably better for us than cough syrup.

@WillH you are Madeleine McCann and I claim my £5.

When FastYoungGit was little and had a bad cough, I’d had enough interrupted nights, so gave him am evening teaspoon of sloe gin ‘medicine’ until he’d recovered. An amateur ‘cough’ returned for a few evenings, to be ignored. We all benefitted.

Whiskey, hot water and sugar here too..

In my bottle….

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Pfutz, probz explanz de schluring i doo now…………………

hic.

I’ve half a memory of something called ‘gripe water,’ supposed to be to stop kids, well, griping. It was basically alcohol and bicarb, so shut them up by giving them an antacid and getting them trousered. Simpler times. (-:

Ahh happy days. Seem to remember the bottle being massive. Unlike any other medicine at the time it wasn’t thick, gloopy, opaque or foul tasting. It actually made not being well something to look forward to. It was really tasty.

I’m going to have a word with my pub landlord, see if he wants to put it on tap if I start my own retro hipster craft gripe water micro brewery.

My little sister used to be given it when a baby ‘cos she was a bit colicky.

I used to sneak a glug or two out the bottle every now and again when my mum wasn’t about as I quite liked the taste. I don’t remember staggering around the house telling my little brother he was my best mate.

As a youngster I was always convinced these got me faintly pissed

Another drink my mother gave us was Guinness, raw egg yolk and milk. All this was mixed in a baby bottle and fed to us.

You grew up in a rugby club minibus?

for some reason this thread makes me think of my minor addiction to Thunderbird ‘wine’ when I was a … cough … younger.

Not booze, but my Mum used to fire calpol down us at every opportunity thinking it made you sleepy, I’m glad she never knew about Mediced or I might have spent my childhood in a mild coma.

Never smacked as a kid.

Well, just half a gram now and then to get us to sleep.
🙂

For cold and flu: a hot toddy i.e. whisky, hot water, honey and lemon juice. It was ‘prescribed’ by the doctor. I’m still a big fan as an adult, tastes a bit yuk but does work (at least as a placebo).

Mind the Germans used to like to go in hard, with Heroin for coughs!

Heroin is great for coughs, relaxes the diaphragm innit.

love the address on that advert dragon!! 🙂

Mum used to feed me a nip of brandy to take the edge off earache. 😯

Yours or hers?

I’d forgotten that Heroin was a brand name!

When I was young it was brandy for stomach aches, whisky for colds. Put me off both for life.

My mum used to give my sister gin for period pains.

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