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7 strange parenting trends from history that will make you grateful for modern parenting

7 strange parenting trends from history that will make you grateful for modern parenting

From baby cages to giving babies whisky, these bizarre parenting trends from history show just how much childcare has changed.

Illustration from 19th century of family in the parlour surprised by the dog lying in the baby cradle

Serafina Kenny

Published: September 22, 2026 at 9:54 AM

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There seems to be a different parenting trend every few months, whether it’s gentle parenting, Montessori schools, beige toys, or ‘FAFO’ (f*ck around and find out) parenting. But this isn’t unique to the 2020s, because parents have been following trends in childrearing for centuries.

Although some of the tactics and techniques parents of the past employed might seem crazy or dangerous now, most of them had their children’s wellbeing and best interests at heart — even though they might have had a totally different idea of what ‘wellbeing’ and a child’s ‘best interests’ actually were…

The concept of ‘childhood’ is something that has emerged over the last few hundred years, informed by philosophical ideas such as tabula rasa (meaning that children are born as ‘blank slates’ and then become who they are via the influences of society and family), sociopolitical ideas such as the importance of education and anti-child labour laws, and medical/psychological ideas of child development.

It’s only in the last few decades that the majority of people have begun to understand mental health, psychology, and the impact of parenting on the way children’s brains work later on in life. And children’s rights to things like education, safety, a sufficient standard of living, health, and freedom were only codified in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.

It’s important to stress that before that, most parents were not neglecting or abusing their children — there was a much higher infant mortality rate, but this didn’t mean parents loved their children any less. It’s just that we know much more about medicine, hygiene, psychology, and wellbeing now!

Here are some of history’s strangest parenting trends that might just make you grateful for today's world of baby monitors and sleep consultants.

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Baby cages

In the early 1900s, there was a fad for putting babies in cages outside — and it’s not as barbaric as it might initially seem.

There was a lot of tuberculosis around at the time, and people believed that plenty of fresh air, sunlight, and ventilation could help to prevent TB and promote general good health in children. But in cities, there was very little outdoor space, with lots of people living in crowded apartment blocks.

So, special boxes that could be suspended out of apartment windows were invented. They were made from corrugated metal, wire or mosquito netting, and wood, and would be clamped to the window frame so that there wasn’t “the slightest danger” to the baby, according to one newspaper article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia in 1913.

There isn’t a huge amount of evidence for these baby cages, other than a few articles in Virginia and New York, and a patent filed by Emma Read of Spokane, Washington in 1922. This could suggest that these instances were unusual enough to be reported on, rather than indicative of a wide-ranging trend.

baby cage

The practice fell out of favour — probably for the same safety reasons that make it seem so horrifying now — but was briefly seen as a way to balance the benefits of fresh air with the realities of city life.

Smoking for pregnant women

It seems unthinkable now, but around 30% of mothers smoked during pregnancy in the 1950s, according to a 2023 study of UK biobank data.

It wasn’t until a report was published in 1964 that it came to light that smoking during pregnancy increased the risk of babies being stillborn, dying quickly after birth, or being born with a low birth weight. And it wasn’t until the 1970s when this started to inform medical policy and a public health campaign was launched to encourage pregnant women to stop smoking.

Before that, cigarette companies would use images of doctors in their advertising to suggest that their products were healthy.

Drugs and alcohol for babies

Before you could go to a pharmacy or grocery shop and pick from hundreds of medicines, all thoroughly tested and approved by scientific bodies, parents had to use what they had at home or rudimentary medicines. But many of these remedies contained alcohol or substances that we’d now think of as drugs.

For example, a common folk remedy to help alleviate babies’ teething pains was to rub whisky on their gums, and babies and ill children were given alcohol to help them sleep. Now, we obviously know that alcohol has many risks and that continuously dosing children with it can form a habit.

Similarly, many medicines available in the 19th century contained things like opium, morphine, or cocaine. While they were, admittedly, effective at relieving pain or helping people sleep/perk up, again we now know that these are not safe substances to give adults, let alone children!

Victorian advertisement for 'gripe water' taken from Our Own Gazette 1888

Many parents wouldn’t have actually known that the medicines they were buying contained such substances, either, because there was no regulation of products, laws about labelling, or approved manufacturers — so anyone could put anything in a product and sell it, according to the Wellcome Collection.

Dunking children in ice cold water

There’s no evidence that this was a widespread practice, but some medical figures advocated for immersing children into icy cold water to harden them up.

Dr. John Floyer was a big proponent of cold-water bathing, including for babies and children. He wrote about the practice as part of baptisms and religious ceremonies, praising Russian children who could “stand half an hour barefooted on the ice without any injury” in his History of Cold-Bathing, published in 1732.

‘Cold water treatments’ were also used to treat children with fevers. Doctors would douse children with cold water to help cool them down. Now, we know that a high temperature is a natural response to infection, and that you shouldn’t cool a febrile child.

Children should be seen... and not held

It’s commonly believed that the Victorians were cold, austere people and that children were treated in the same way, and the norms were for less affection and physical contact than parents might be used to today.

In ‘A handbook of obstetric nursing, for nurses, students and mothers,’ published in 1911, for example, new mothers are advised to leave their babies in their cribs, and to only pick them up to feed them and give them “the necessary attentions for keeping it clean and comfortable.” They should also only be fed once every two hours during the day or three hours at night — or else, the handbook warns, the child will become a “little tyrant” and “spoiled”!

However, in other instances, parents have been much more affectionate than we might think. When most of us think about the stereotypical English father from the Victorians to the 1950s, for example, we might think about a distant father who only ever interacted with their children to give them a pat on the head when returning from work.

But Dr. Julie-Marie Strange from the University of Manchester has found that Victorian fathers were often very affectionate and incorporated comedy into how they played with their children. And Dr. Laura King from the University of Leeds similarly found that fathers were much less distant than we think they were in the first half of the 1900s, with some emotional exchanges during both world wars.

Radioactive toys

Child's vintage large glass cats eye marble, setting on a weathered picnic table with summer sun shining through it.

Before we knew just how dangerous exposure to radioactive substances can be (causing radiation sickness, cancers, and genetic damage), there was a craze for radiation-infused products. People believed radiation could be beneficial for health until high-profile evidence to the contrary came about — for instance, the ‘Radium Girls’ who developed health issues and early deaths from radiation poisoning in their workplace, and the death of golfer Eben Myers from drinking a medicine which contained radium salts dissolved in water.

This radiation craze reached families too; uranium marbles, which glowed fluorescent yellow like cats’ eyes, were popular among children, while a toy chemistry set sold by the A.C. Gilbert Company contained multiple samples of radioactive ores and sources of radiation! It didn’t sell well, thankfully — but this was probably due to its high price point of $49.50 (equivalent to around $650 today), rather than any safety concerns.

Washing a newborn in lard

When babies are born at full term, they are usually covered in a waxy white substance called vernix caseosa, which is thought to help lubricate the birth and keep the baby moisturised. The NHS advises that it should be left on the skin for the first few days to help protect against infection.

But one hundred years ago, medical advice was to wash it off. An 1895 guide on the ‘Management of the New-Born’ by W.Z. Holliday instructs new parents to wash off the vernix using a mixture of water, soap, and lard, before moisturising them with some more lard.

From hanging babies in cages to dosing them with whisky or covering them in lard, the history of parenting is full of ideas that now seem utterly bizarre. Next time you’re agonising over which pram to buy or whether to try baby-led weaning, just remember that it could be a lot stranger!

About the author Serafina Kenny is a digital journalist at MadeForMums. She specialised in gendered history in her master's degree from the University of Manchester, and writes about the history of health, culture, sex and relationships, and lifestyle for HistoryExtra magazine.

Authors

Serafina Kenny journalist headshot

Serafina KennyDigital Journalist

Serafina Kenny is a Digital Journalist at MadeForMums. She writes news and features and has expertise in health, nutrition, relationships, and history. She has previously written for Business Insider, Women's Health, Stylist, Men's Health US, The i Paper, Dazed, and more. You can contact her with tips and story ideas (or compliments!) at serafina.kenny@immediate.co.uk.