“Never hug your child!” and other terrible parenting advice from the past 100 years

According to Lena and William Sadler's The Mother and her Child, published in 1916, it was thought that feelings of distress from mums could cause their little ones to have colic.

They also said that breastfeeding mums could run dry by engaging in "worry, grief, or nagging".

Babies were given special baths made from lard, in the early 1900's, giving a whole new meaning to baby soft...

Sir Frederick Truby King advised mums to feed their children every four hours - never at night - and to leave them outside in the garden to toughen them up. He also said that cuddles should be capped at 10 minutes. Blimey.

Fresh air was all the rage in the 1920s, however mums were told to take it a little too far and even sunbathing was encouraged for little ones(!!) Feeding, sleeping and nappy-changing were all encouraged to be outside in the fresh air.

Over 100 years ago, mums-to-be were told they must refrain from thinking of ugly things if they wanted beautiful offspring. 

"Pregnant mothers should avoid thinking of ugly people, or those marked by any deformity or disease; avoid injury, fright and disease of any kind." recommended the book Searchlights on Health: The Science of Eugenics, published in the 1920s.

American psychologist John B. Watson advised against giving your children signs of affection in his controversial book from the 1920s. Psychological Care of Infant and Child. 

He wrote, "Never hug and kiss [children], never let them sit in your lap. If you must, kiss them once on the forehead when they say good night. Shake hands with them in the morning… Try it out. In a week's time you will find how easy it is to be perfectly objective with your child and at the same time kind. You will be utterly ashamed of the mawkish, sentimental way you have been handling it."

Women were advised by the Canadian government to not listen to the radio at loud volumes, as there were concerns they would get too excited...

Drinking alcohol whilst breastfeeding is to be avoided, but that wasn't always the case. According to a Mother&Baby magazine in the 1950s, believed a glass of stout helped maintain natural milk! 
The article read, ‘Some members of the medical profession maintain they always advocate a daily glass of beer as a recuperative for nursing mothers.
‘Our own experience has been limited to the theory that a glass of stout is a wonderful pick-me-up and helpful in maintaining the natural milk.’

According to pediatrician Walter W. Sackett Jr, babies should wean a lot sooner than today's advised six months old. In fact, he stated that at just 10 days old they could have strained vegetables and by nine weeks old your little one would be eating  "bacon and eggs, just like Dad!"
He also recommended giving babies black coffee starting at six months to get them used to "the normal eating habits of the family".

We all know of the dangers of lighting up when expecting, however, that wasn't always the case. In the 1966 edition of a leading obstetrics textbook, it stated that "pregnant women could safely smoke half a pack of cigarettes a day".