A new friend asked me the other day if I knew where you could buy “Save the Baby.” And to tell you the truth, it has been years since I even thought about this particular medication. So, I began to wonder myself, what happened to Save the Baby? And is it still available?
Well, the answer to those questions is, yes, you can still get it, and in two forms. You can still buy the traditional old medication that is a syrup for coughs and croup. And this liquid is also recommended for use in your vaporizer! It was first made by the William W. Lee company back in 1874 and many of us used it and had it as a centerpiece of our medicine cabinet until quite recently. When my children were quite young, Save the Baby was recommended to me by a neighbor and I used it as a syrup for coughs, croup and of course, in my vaporizer. Even though I thought it had a funny name, it did work and I liked it. And you can still buy it for about $6.00.
What I didn’t know is that Save the Baby can also be had as a salve. You rub this salve onto your chest and it reduces the impulse to cough, which also helps you sleep. The formula for Save the Baby has not changed much. It still contains petroleum, camphor, oregano, rosemary and balsam oils. And I have been assured that it is still as effective as ever. I don’t know which stores still carry this product but I do know that if you go online you can find quite a few sites that still sell it and recommend it.
While we are talking about “old-fashioned” remedies and medicines, I want to share this with you. When Malcolm and I were first married, he got a “hard” cold and was suffering! And when I recommended that he use Vicks, he didn’t know what it was! So, I bought a jar of Vicks and proceeded to rub it on his chest, put a little under his nose and even had him stuff a little in each nostril. And after the chest rub, I put a piece of flannel on his chest. Did it work and did he get better? Of course it did and to this day he attributes his recovery to the Vicks. So, now I always know when he isn’t feeling well because the smell of Vicks wafts throughout the house! No one in the world has become such a believer in Vicks as Malcolm is. Who would have thought?
Actually, my beginning with Vicks started when I was a very little girl. My father was a great proponent of Vicks and I still have vivid memories of him sitting by my bed and encouraging me to scoop huge globs of Vicks on my finger and then shove it up my nose! My choice was always to have a glob that was so big even the garbage man would use it. Why the garbage man I don’t know, but I do know that it seemed to encourage me to scoop it up as big as I could. I don’t remember ever using Vicks as a way to sooth a sore throat, but both my parents did... Yup, my parents would swallow a teaspoon full, take a sip of warm water and always were sure that it made their throat better and their colds go away.
Think about it. Why wouldn’t Save the Baby or Vicks work as well as many of the strange and frightening remedies that we are encouraged to use today? Neither one of those “medicines” will harm you, cause some other problem that antibiotics do, or (now wait for this) cost you an arm and a leg! And I believe that the smell of those “old-fashioned” remedies are so soothing that you know that you are getting better just by the aroma in your room! And that is something that you don’t get from a sterile, white bottle of pills.
I know that some of you are going to take the time to share with me your own Save the Baby stories! Because, like me, you have almost forgotten about how important it was to your child-rearing days. If Nancy hadn’t asked me about it, I don’t think I would have ever remembered it at all. And to find out that it is still available is a terrific thing to me.
I have a 3-year-old grandson who has more colds than I would like and I have always thought that my involvement in his life is definitely limited to being a cheerleader. I never make suggestions to my son or daughter-in-law on how to care for his illnesses. But I really think that I will buy them a bottle of the Save the Baby cough syrup and suggest that they try it and see how it goes. I am sure that it will make him feel better and if nothing else, it can’t hurt! And if I remember correctly, it smells like it is making you better. And that is a lot more important than either no smell at all or the smell of some chemical that is supposed to heal.
