A Mother's Kiss- History of opiates as an Rx for Children

The use of opiates in the United States can be traced as far back as the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620. It is believed that physician Samuel Fuller would have carried laudanum, an opiate used as a pain killer, anti-diarrheal, and sleep-inducing among the Pilgrims.

By the American Revolution, opium was a common medical tool and by the mid-19^th century, opiates were the main ingredient in pain killers, even in teething powders.

 

 

One such product, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, was a morphine and alcohol  mixture, marketed to parents of fussy children as a “perfectly harmless and pleasant” way to produce a “natural quiet sleep, by relieving the child from pain.”

Bayer Aspirin Company made heroin available in a small bottle for ailments such as suppressing a minor cough.

Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, many doctors were slow to heed the warnings about the dangers of opiate addiction of a shortage of other treatments, and inadequate medical instruction. 

Educating doctors was key to fighting the epidemic. Medical instructors and textbooks from the 1890s regularly delivered strong warnings against overusing opium.

In my new release, A Baker for Bear, when widower Barrett Montgomery fires his housekeeper for dosing his daughters with "soothing syrups", he's forced to accept his family's interference and at least entertain the idea of a mail-order bride.

New Release

A debutante with a stammer, a compulsive widowed blacksmith with two young daughters. Will they find a way to coexist or even better, forge a romantic partnership? 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PDVSNKG

Ada Pike longs to leave the life of a socialite and use her skills as a baker to love and nurture a family. A move to the country will perfectly suit her first steps into life on her own.  

Barrett Montgomery rejects the idea of a mail-order bride. What he needs is a housekeeper- someone he can fire if things don't work out the way he likes. Can a matchmaking agency work miracles to bring two people with opposing goals together? Will they find a way to coexist or even better, forge a romantic partnership?   

About Kimberly Grist:

Kim has enjoyed writing since she was a young girl. However, she began writing her first novel in 2017, "I wear so many hats working inside and outside the home. I work hard, try harder, and then begin again the next day. Despite my best efforts, sometimes life just stinks. Bad things happen. I need and want an outlet, an opportunity to relax and escape to a place where obstacles are met and overcome." 

Fans of historical romance set in the late 19th -century will enjoy stories combining, History, Humor, and Romance, emphasizing Faith, Friends, and Good Clean Fun. 

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