What the freak is MRS. WINSLOW’S SOOTHING SYRUP?

Is your baby teething? Are you getting no sleep at night? Try some of Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup! One drop of this sweet serenity and your baby will sleep through the night! In fact, your baby might sleep forever! 

One teaspoon of Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup contained enough morphine to kill the average child, yet this remedy was incredibly popular in the mid-late 19th century. 

How is this possible?

Drug companies were not yet required to put active ingredients on the label, so consumers had no way of knowing what was inside. You know what they say… “Ignorance is bliss until you start dying slowly.” They say that right?

This syrup is now known as the “baby killer.” No one knows how many children died from the use of soothing syrup because doctors didn’t attribute a baby’s death to it. The recommended dosage for children six months old was one teaspoon, four times a day! At least they stopped teething?

Oof.