To wonder what my mum was playing at to give me Ribena as a baby?

[Hotmad]

Mum asked me if I gave my 3 month old any Ribena in a comforter type dummy??? She used to do that for me!! Apparently there was baby Ribena about 30 years ago!
What other ideas from the past so you know of that would never be done now?

My mum and dad used to put me in my carry cot in the back seat. My toddler car seat had a complicated arrangement of pins to fix it in place as there were no seat belts in the backs of most cars then. My friend's mum used to have an estate car and when she gave us a lift we were allowed to climb over the back seat and sit in the boot all while she was driving.

Calpol ingredients are:

■strawberry flavouring & carmoisine to produce its pink colour. (Chemical compound E122- suspected carcinogen, banned in Austria, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the US and not recommended for consumption by children) .

■the paraben preservatives methyl parahydroxybenzoate (E218 - suspected hormone disruptor and allergen. Banned in France and Australia) and E122. Note that both these substances have been linked to hyperactivity, and the Hyperactive Childrens Support Group identifies them as likely causes of mysterious and sudden cases of ADHD-like hyperactivity. They too say these substances are not recommended to be consumed by children.
■Maltitol (a mild laxative)
■Glycerol (E422 - large quantities can cause headaches, thirst and nausea)
■Sorbitol (E420 - There are no limits to the intake of E420; however, its use is actually prohibited for infants younger than 1 year of age, as it may cause severe diarrhoea)
■Propyl parahydroxybenzoate (E216 - suspected hormone disruptor and allergen. Not recommended for consumption by children . Possible contact allergen. Not permitted for use in France or Australia)
■Ethyl parahydroxybenzoate (E214 - suspected hormone disruptor, banned in France and Australia. Not recommended for consumption by children)
■A thickener xanthan gum (E415- no known adverse effects)

I noticed Rodney Trotter pacing the hospital corridor with a cigarette in his hand on Only Fools and Horse (1991) when Raquel was giving birth.

Imagine that now?!

In 1970 I was advised by a retired nurse to put a teaspoon of sweet sherry in baby's bottle to help his colic!
It seemed to work!

I agree winterlace, I only ever had my teeth brushed in the mornings (still struggle to remember to brush them at night now to be honest, because it just wasn't part of my routine). I didn't have lots of sweets, but I only ever drank squash as a child, never water or milk. And the one filling I do have, I blame on pregnancy and breastfeeding, I got it done when DD was 11 months.

pinky wow I do remember those pretend chocolate cigarettes I actually pretended to smoke them as a child, how wrong that must have looked, I'm starting to think my mother was proper neglecting me!! ;)

My MIL suggested letting my PFB suck on cube of sugar wrapped in a piece of muslin, a sort of sugary tea bag. .

The funny thing is my 51 year old DH has amazingly healthy teeth with NO cavities.

Talking of calpol, that used to taste much better than it does now!

I remember baby ribena! I'm 33. mum used to make me "milky coffee" too- actual coffee with sugar and warmed milk- when I was under 5! Tea in bottles very common up north where I'm from.

I remember in the late seventies, we drove to London, overnight, and we slept, myself on the parcel shelf and my sister stretched out in the back seat. No seatbelts.

My mum told me a fun anecdote about the car breaking down in the dead of night, mum got the AA man to fix the car and then he drove the car without mum on a test drive to make sure it was working alright. So mum joked (hilarious to her) imagine if we had woken up and a strange man was driving the car!

Like OMG!!

I remember Baby Ribena. You used to buy it in Boots. It came in a smaller bottle with a picture of a baby on. Also Calpol etc certainly existed 30 years ago - I remember that too! Am 35.

Yes, there was definitely Calpol 30 years ago. There was also gripe water which actually contained gin (the gin has been removed now, before anyone panics). Both my children had it and their drink of choice as adults is gin and tonic :)

I can remember one of my aunts coming out of hospital with a 10 day old baby who was already on solids. I know it sounds incredible, but it is true.

When I was at school all the teachers used to smoke in the staff room, people smoked in the office, on the train, on the station platform, upstairs in buses and in the cinema.

Oh I shouldn't read these threads, my three young dc only drink apple juice, or (sugar free) squash... I swore I'd never give the dts juice. I failed... Bad, bad mother.

Apparently loads of babies at nursery are still sent in with tea in their bottles. Our Nanny (I'm not posh, just 3 under 3 therefore cheapest childcare) used to work at our local nursery, in.a village, not bad area, and said it was really common!

Also I definitely had Calpol as a child and I'm 30.

I adored the no seatbelts in the back. Dsis and I took turns to lie on the parcelshelf

Oh yes! Children's sweetie cigarettes!! How times have changed!

Oh the lack of seatbelts! On holidays in a small country village we used to sit in the boot - with the door open, while my dad drove (relatively slowly, but still) and we waved at people we passed. Or climbing on seats so we could stick our heads out the sun roof when he was driving too.
And I remember the white sugary fake cigarettes, with a red dot on the "lit" end. I loved those.

I'm sure there must've been Calpol 30 years ago; I'm 35 and I remember getting it. And my mum seemed quite clued up on healthy eating - sweets were a once a week treat, Wimpey (remember that?) once a month (around payday!) and I didn't try coke till I was a teenager.

She apparently went ballistic when she caught my grandad dipping my dummy in his whiskey too!

I had tea in a bottle as a child, I was born late 80s. Milky but with sugar.

Also remember putting my dolls carefully to sleep on their fronts and turning their heads to the side as that's how my mum put my baby sister to sleep (1991 - just before "Back to sleep")

Remember playing with the smoke as it came off somebody's cigarette, possibly in an ashtray. Smoking in the car.

Just asked my mum she said the Health Visitors recommended it for vitamin c when we were weaning. I had to have all of my milk teeth bar four at the front removed in one sitting at the age of four because of such bad decay, the Ribena was the only unhealthy thing I had but it was on hv advice, had so many problems through my life due to having so many removed so young.

And gripe water. My sister and I used to say we had a sore tummy so we could have some. Didn't know it contained gin! Maybe that explains it!

blackholes, I'm up north too, that'll explain the tea in bottles round here then!

In the 90s we had "candy sticks" which were just white sugar sticks. Everyone called them "sweetie cigarettes" but I had no idea that they actually used to be made to look like cigarettes, how weird!

Hotmad you think your mum was proper neglecting you? I've just remembered that my dad used to leave me and my sister outside the pub for literally hours, sitting in the car. Every so often he'd come out with another bottle of coke each (with straw) and some crisps...

For hours & hours & hours....

Then he would drive us home - seriously, WTF!

Of course there was calpol 30 years ago. I remember the bottle sitting on the shelf in the bathroom.

My mum also did sweets twice a week too. Though i was allowed juice by my bed for overnight. No fillings. I agree you're lucky or not with teeth. This thread is giving me major mother guilt (for good reason, sigh) so I'd best bury my head in the sand elsewhere...

My friend's mum suggested giving our baby a bone to teethe on! Apparently it was the done thing in the 70s...