Happy Mum's Day
I was at the cash register of a real brick and mortar bookshop over a decade ago when this fantastic little book caught my attention.
I like to think I’m immune to such impulse buys but with a baby of my own at home at the time, I talked myself into it with the usual rationalization—I’ll gift it to a friend.
I didn’t.
I lived in Woodstock, New York, and I felt suffocated by all the rules that were coming at me as a new mum.
Don’t get off your feet for six weeks after birth!
Don’t pump breast milk for at least a month!
Don’t let Baby sleep in a crib instead of the family bed!
Don’t give Baby formula—ever!
Don’t leave Baby with a sitter!
Don’t let Baby cry—ever!
Don’t let Baby suck his thumb!
So much for a town full of hippies.
This pocket-sized book was published anonymously in England, in 1878 and I couldn’t help wondering what rules Victorian mums had to deal with.
Part old wive’s tales, part words of wisdom, much of the content made me laugh. So, in honor of Mother’s Day, I dusted it off to share a few nuggets here, along with some very rushed illustrations.
Don't feel it necessary to wash your infant's head with brandy.
Don't allow a babe's clothes to become wet with urine. Children can be taught cleanliness, by putting a vessel under their lap when there is a sign of evacuation and will soon be not content to do without it. This practice may be begun at five or six weeks.
Don't add either gin or oil of peppermint to the babe's food. It is a murderous practice..
Don't cram a wet-nurse with food and give her strong ale to drink.
Happy Mum’s Day.
I couldn't resist trying to find out why anyone would have used brandy on the baby's head. Apparently, from Henry Allbutt’s “Every Mother’s Handbook” (1897), the author stands against this practice: “Again, some nurses add brandy or other spirits to the water in which a baby is first washed. Or if they don’t do this, they wash the baby’s head with the brandy, for the purpose they say, of strengthening it. Now, this is decidedly improper and must never be done, because the spirit evaporates very rapidly, and quickly produces a sensation of cold, which is both unpleasant and injurious to a newly-born child, by depriving it of some of its natural heat.”
Who knew?
Thanks -- so fun!
😂😂 loved it. Don’t feel the need to wash your baby’s head with brandy. If no brandy is at hand, there are other options, equally strong.