Comments on: Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup

By: Caro

Caro — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:12:36 +0000

Yes, I’m sure that was the case. Among the many reasons for people to choose a particular remedy, wanting to relieve a child’s suffering is a very understandable one.

By: Rod Bleckstyne

Rod Bleckstyne — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:10:26 +0000

…Considering the medical age this morphine syrup was probably the only real relief from continual suffering some seriously ill children ever got!!!

By: A few examples of late 19th and early 20th century children’s material culture | Media and Childhood

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:41:21 +0000

[...] Syrups Image from here. Image from here. Image from [...]

By: crystalsky

crystalsky — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 02:14:53 +0000

Hi every1,
i think that the bottle must be neat looking from being that old. I bought an old book yesterday called uncle toms cabin it has no pictures but inside the back cover it has the advertisement and picture for the winslows advertisement its really old this book. and the advertisement. i was just trying to find out information. thank you 4 your time.

By: Best Health Websites|websites for health with the best information

Best Health Websites|websites for health with the best information — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:24:06 +0000

[...] article on the danger of Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing [...]

By: Caroline Rance

Caroline Rance — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:25:50 +0000

What an interesting find, Stacie! This is one of the best-known patent remedies so there is a lot of stuff on the web about it. The product contained morphine up until the beginning of the 20th century (not sure when exactly, but pre-1912). After that the word “Soothing” was removed from the name and it continued to be sold without morphine. It still contained alcohol, potassium bromide, aniseed oil, and was 56.5% sugar!

By: Stacie

Stacie — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:09:27 +0000

My husband found an old Mrs. Winslow bottle today (nearly perfect condition). He installs water services and digs up old bottles frequently. It seems that people just buried everything back then. I am shocked at how easy it was to locate information on this one. If anyone has more detailed information (date it was banned etc), please contact me at pinkerton1971@optonline.net. Thank you. Your site was very helpful.

By: The Problem with Cardio «

The Problem with Cardio « — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:44:20 +0000

[...] The key is, conventional wisdom is not the same as reality-based science. Remember, there were a lot of doctors in the not-so-distant past who felt there were no negative health consequences whatsoever involved with smoking, prefrontal lobotomies, or morphine-based children’s teething syrup. [...]

By: Caroline Rance

Caroline Rance — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 10:54:45 +0000

Hi Geri, thanks for your comment. Babies quite often did become addicted – then they’d get more fractious between doses, so the parents would give them more syrup to quieten them, and so on. I wouldn’t be surprised if the mothers took the occasional sip too!

By: gerilwalton

gerilwalton — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:21:11 +0000

Yes, some of the cures from the 1800s were truly unique. I wonder what they did when the baby became addicted to morphine?