c.bauherren.ovhWhat a tool! Tools are always handy...

Whiskey, honey and lemon during a bout of whooping cough, but the whiskey was only a splash with everything else on a spoon,

Mother rubbing bourbon on baby sisters gum when she was teething

I think it had a lot to do with society's view of alcohol and children. So many older stories I've read (Wuthering Heights comes immediately to mind) include children with bits of alcohol as almost nonchalante. I'm fairly certain that if I would have told anyone at school mom or dad gave me a shot of whiskey to help me sleep, someone would have been knocking on thier door shortly thereafter. my mom never bought any medicines when I was a child. My brother and I were either given a spoon of sugar covered in whiskey (gross) or a mustard plaster with onions pinned to our shirt at night (double gross). I have never been able to drink whiskey as to me, it means medicine lol.

Unless you count things like Robitussin, which was alcohol based when I was a kid. I generally give my kids tinctures when they have something I feel I need to treat, and I give them sublingually (under the tongue) so the herbs are absorbed more directly.

remember being given hot toddies or the pujeen (sp?) when I was a child by my great aunt:) It did me no harm and I fondly remember it as a comfort when I was sick. think of Mrs. Slocombe on Are You Being Served?

We have always preferred alternative and old fashion remedies, but it was not until last winter that my husband began making himself a hot toddies before bed to rest when he had a really bad cold. I have got to say that he rested well and got over it quickly. I have had one have helped me a time or two since.

We have not given any to our daughter yet--she has not had such bad symptoms since then--but I think neither of us would be opposed to do so should she have really bad symptoms and unable to rest.

on another note, my mother was born blue at home and the doctor walked away saying she would not live the night. they were a poor family and this was in 1940. my grandfather gave her drops of sherry to warm her and rubbed/massaged her until she was warm, pink, and responsive. obviously, she lived.

No, but four years ago I had a flight attendant comp me a bottle of whiskey while I was holding my crying 1 year old "in case I needed a little something for her gums."

My dad who was very against alcohol began drinking 'hot toddy's' when he was in the last stages of colon cancer. It seemed to make things a little more bearable for him.

I had a horrible cough, and she knew a man who made moonshine. So she sent my daddy to see the man and buy the moonshine, and then she gave it to me. I don't know what she mixed with it, though. I don't remember the incident at all, but the story has become part of our family's lore.

I remember Granny giving me paregoric (camphorated tincture of opium) too, on more than one occasion when I was sick as a young child. At the time (1960s), paregoric could be bought over the counter. I remember that it tasted kind of like licorice, which I did not like.

Several years later, when I was a young teen, I remember Granny giving me a big serving spoon full of whiskey mixed with sugar when I had menstrual cramps.

p. my grandparents did. Good Irish catholics. My dad always only just threatened us with a stiff shot of whiskey when we were sick. He was much too fond of the stuff to use it as medicine for children!

Posted October 13, 2009 When my son was born, my MIL told me that she used to mix a shot of vodka with the formula in DH's baby bottle "so he would sleep through the night and [FIL] wouldn't have to get up and feed him." Like she was doing my FIL a favor! :blink:

Jackie I was sick and couldn't stop coughing, my parents would give me a teaspoon of whiskey (usually Wild Turkey) with a marshmallow "chaser". Nasty stuff but it worked. remember my mom having Paragoric by prescription and we would get a dose of that for almost anything. I am pretty sure our pediatrician prescribed this. I can still recall that it tasted like straight scotch! (Not that I knew that at the time!) It was also an added ingredient in a diarrhea medicine that we used to have to take from time to time. I remember asking a pharmacist where I could get some once after I had my own children, and was told it was a narcotic! Wow, was I surprised! This may explain a lot about my siblings and me :lol:/ my mother made us drink cooking sherry when we were sick. I cannot stand drinking alcohol to this day, it just reminds me of vomiting.

oth my parents and grandparents did this and I am also one of the parents old enough to have done this as well. I have recently had this unofficially recommended to me by licensed medical personnel. Alcohol or narcotics are effective cough medicines because they act on the cough center of the brain and dull the cough reflex. They are more effective than over the counter cough medicines that do not contain alcohol. As a matter of fact, narcotic cough syrups are the strongest narcotic available by prescription (percentage wise) because they don't mix it with tylonol to prevent overdose. Even still there is nothing that is one hundred percent effective in preventing a cough. Hot toddies are also good for sore throats of other forms of mild pain. It is pretty imporatant to get the dosing right in a child and it is illegal in many states.

No alcohol here and my parents were European. They did drink occasionally and my father used to have one beer every night after coming home but they didn't give us any. We had Robitussin for coughs and Mercurochrome for cuts. MY dh is always saying we need to get some Mercurochrome but we use polysporin instead.

Didn't read the other posts, and I don't know if this counts as medicating or not, but, my bio-father would give my 2 little brothers and me rum and coke to knock us out at night so he could drink himself on the weekends he had us. Sad, but, true and it did work. I think I was 5 so that would make my brothers 3 and 1. When I think about that, it makes me sick. My grandma would rub a little whiskey on our gums when we were teething--not a lot just a little rub to the area the tooth was coming in on. From what I hear, that worked great. </details>