Mother's remedies

[Gemini]

No Daisy 😁

[Daisy]

No Daisy 😁

Hahaha - I don't blame you.

[Nana]

My Uncle used to give my cousins Vick to swallow when they had colds/sore throats etc. Ugh🤢

Mum used to put kaolin poultices (sp?) on our chests if we had a chesty cough. I can smell it now. Of course I had a vest to wear, a libertybodice with little rubber buttons. She was also fond of butter on bumps.

[Gemini]

Liberty bodice here too Nana. It was supposed to keep us free from colds and things in winter maybe? It didn't work for me, I was ill a lot as a child!

[Daisy]

Liberty bodices here, too, plus vests - worn right into June, presumably when all chance of frost was over!!

[Plantaholic]

Liberty bodice, yes I had to wear one, as I was the youngest of six, it was probably passed down. I wonder what boys wore instead.

[aggie]

Any one remember a remedy for head lice ? My Mum soaked a scarf in Paraffin , yes the stuff for Tilly lamps , and wrapped it round my head to sleep in , I was then taken to the GP with burnt ears , which he painted with Gentian Violet ! I refused to go to School till the purple wore off and the scabs cleared up

[Glammanana]

I suffered a lot with my tonsils when young and my mother used the black sticky stuff that was used for mumps all wrapped around with an old piece of material,it stank the house out and left a dirty mark on your neck and throat for weeks.

[WeeGranny]

I had suspenders sewn onto the bottom of my liberty bodice to keep up the long woollen stockings knitted by my Granny in the wintertime!

I also remember having butter rubbed on to a bump......and it was good for taking tar/oil off good shoes!

As a child I suffered badly from psoriasis and had to attend hospital 20 miles away regularly to be covered in crude tar, wrapped in bandages and sent home. I recall the bus smelling of tar all the way home ( no car in those days!). Still get the shivers when the roads are being tarred these days. Am pleased to say medicine has moved on and I only need a tube of ointment!

My DB used to get beef tea Daisy, as he was a 'sickly child'!!! I always felt it unfair that I never got any because it smelt really nice !!!

[Daisy]

Any one remember a remedy for head lice ? My Mum soaked a scarf in Paraffin , yes the stuff for Tilly lamps , and wrapped it round my head to sleep in , I was then taken to the GP with burnt ears , which he painted with Gentian Violet ! I refused to go to School till the purple wore off and the scabs cleared up

Aggie - I do remember this remedy for head lice. I was lucky enough not to have needed it but it was barbaric! Poor you, your ears must have been so painful. I hope the burns didn't leave scars. I remember a friend of mine being sent to school in a headscarf because her dad had shaved all her hair off to get rid of lice. She was so upset and some of the boys teased her.

WeeGranny - that's also horrendous! My OH gets psoriasis but it didn't start until he was in his 40s so he missed the really awful crude tar treatments. I'm not quite sure what magical properties beef tea was supposed to have, but I think I was sick after having it just the once, Euuurrrrggghhh ! I would have gladly given you mine.

Glamm - I think most of our generation had their tonsils removed, so at least you managed to hang on to yours, but that black gunk probably didn't make you feel any better.

[Grauntie Mag]

Plant, was it Virol you were given? We were only given it when we stayed with a particular Aunt and we loved it! I don’t remember being given anything for ailments butI do remember being ill in bed and having a fire lit in my bedroom. Also the dreaded liberty bodice! I cut the rubber buttons off mine but I still had to wear it.

[Oma]

Hot OXO drink with bread to dip in if you were poorly , I still like a hot OXO drink

[Daisy]

Oma - when I was expecting DS1 it was the only hot drink that didn't make me feel sick - surprising after the beef tea episode! Yes, I remember dipping bread in - and it sinking to the bottom in a sodden lump!

[Glammanana]

How I love hot Oxo always have doneIstill have a steaming cup when its cold outside it seems to warm you through to your bones.

[Daisy]

Bovril's good too!