Hi Gus, One wonders about taking the children - out for a treat . It appears that this is a major meal for some children/ families. I am constantly surprised to see infants - just barely able to eat solid food - being fed - mostly terrible ,greasy - sometimes stale french fries . When I volunteered at school -children came with no breakfast - soft drinks - and potato chips [crisps] might be their lunch. Some of the children did not recognize some very common foods - * I taught simple cooking - made breakfasts -for the classes I volunteered at. So - No we really have not Advanced much in 160 years . In the early years that are being discussed -I am certain that most people tried to do the best for their children - if these medications were considered helpful -in that time. We still serve our children - with bad medicine. When my son was growing up - many of the young mothers that I knew - gave their children a certain brand of Cough Medicine - -not because they had a cold - or were ill - but to quiet them - and put them to sleep. Cheers, Stella http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cu1.html http://www.gober.net/victorian/reports/child1.htm At 01:00 PM 2/22/2006, you wrote: >We clutch at our breasts and cry "ugh" at the thought of OPIUM being given >to Small Children - but it was known as Laudanum and was as freely-available >as the (very-alcoholic) "Teething Mixtures" you could buy from any Chemist >Shop well into the 1960s! > >While today we take kids to a [name deleted] Burger Shop for a "treat" and >think nothing of it at all.... > >Have we REALLY advanced much in 160 years?? > >Gus > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: <AudreyJoyceMcC@aol.com> >To: <BEDFORD-L@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 1:14 PM >Subject: Re: [BDF] Re: Repeated child mortality > > >In a message dated 2/22/06 12:40:29 AM GMT Standard Time, sstanger@sfu.ca >writes: > > > Children in the nineteenth-century were also subjected to the opium > > problem. Parents with teething children, mostly poor parents, used > > opium-based cures for the pain. According to the parliamentary > > papers, item 38, reports that deaths by poison, between the years > > 1836-1839 numbered more than 30 (11). These are the deaths that are > > directly related to the ingestion of opium, as opposed to some > > children's prolonged use and subsequent death by starvation due to > > lack of food ,Snip> > > > >Gosh, Stella, that is pretty awful! I cant imagine parents or country GPs & >pharmacists would have access to opium out here in the sticks in >Bedfordshire...and the poor wouldnt have been able to aford it. However, >it is certainly >something to consider when one sees a child's death attributed to >'teething'? > >cathy > > >==== BEDFORD Mailing List ==== >For any updates our info about the status of this list go to >http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com > > >==== BEDFORD Mailing List ==== >For any updates our info about the status of this list go to >http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com

In Vanity Fair Amelia Osborne almost permanently falls out with her mother over a potion called "Daffy's Elixir" which Mrs Sedley is attempting to administer to young Georgie. Amelia condemns it as "poison" and her mother indignantly asks whether she is being accused of poisoning her own grandchild! Presumably this Daffy's elixir did contain something like laudanum, and presumably there were mothers who were intelligent enough to know that it was not a good thing! Incidentally, elsewhere in the novel it is suggested that the Sedleys had children other than Amelia and Jos who died in infancy. Maybe they were victims of this potion! Ros -----Original Message----- From: Stella Stanger [mailto:sstanger@sfu.ca] Sent: 22 February 2006 21:51 To: BEDFORD-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BDF] Re: Repeated child mortality Hi Gus, One wonders about taking the children - out for a treat . It appears that this is a major meal for some children/ families. I am constantly surprised to see infants - just barely able to eat solid food - being fed - mostly terrible ,greasy - sometimes stale french fries . When I volunteered at school -children came with no breakfast - soft drinks - and potato chips [crisps] might be their lunch. Some of the children did not recognize some very common foods - * I taught simple cooking - made breakfasts -for the classes I volunteered at. So - No we really have not Advanced much in 160 years . In the early years that are being discussed -I am certain that most people tried to do the best for their children - if these medications were considered helpful -in that time. We still serve our children - with bad medicine. When my son was growing up - many of the young mothers that I knew - gave their children a certain brand of Cough Medicine - -not because they had a cold - or were ill - but to quiet them - and put them to sleep. Cheers, Stella http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cu1.html http://www.gober.net/victorian/reports/child1.htm At 01:00 PM 2/22/2006, you wrote: >We clutch at our breasts and cry "ugh" at the thought of OPIUM being given >to Small Children - but it was known as Laudanum and was as freely-available >as the (very-alcoholic) "Teething Mixtures" you could buy from any Chemist >Shop well into the 1960s! > >While today we take kids to a [name deleted] Burger Shop for a "treat" and >think nothing of it at all.... > >Have we REALLY advanced much in 160 years?? > >Gus > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: <AudreyJoyceMcC@aol.com> >To: <BEDFORD-L@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 1:14 PM >Subject: Re: [BDF] Re: Repeated child mortality > > >In a message dated 2/22/06 12:40:29 AM GMT Standard Time, sstanger@sfu.ca >writes: > > > Children in the nineteenth-century were also subjected to the opium > > problem. Parents with teething children, mostly poor parents, used > > opium-based cures for the pain. According to the parliamentary > > papers, item 38, reports that deaths by poison, between the years > > 1836-1839 numbered more than 30 (11). These are the deaths that are > > directly related to the ingestion of opium, as opposed to some > > children's prolonged use and subsequent death by starvation due to > > lack of food ,Snip> > > > >Gosh, Stella, that is pretty awful! I cant imagine parents or country GPs & >pharmacists would have access to opium out here in the sticks in >Bedfordshire...and the poor wouldnt have been able to aford it. However, >it is certainly >something to consider when one sees a child's death attributed to >'teething'? > >cathy > > >==== BEDFORD Mailing List ==== >For any updates our info about the status of this list go to >http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com > > >==== BEDFORD Mailing List ==== >For any updates our info about the status of this list go to >http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com ==== BEDFORD Mailing List ==== Bedfordshire at Rootsweb http://www.rootsweb.com/~engbdf/