Regency Trivia – Things That Were Not Yet Concepts

Drinking while pregnant. Another Regency author and I were discussing this at the convention this past weekend. My son was born in 1980 and her daughter was born about the mid-1980s. I had a secretary who became pregnant around 1998, and it was the first time the doctor mentioned it to her. That said, some doctors saw a link between strong drink and weak babies.

In 1725 physicians tried to convince the House of Commons to ban women from drinking strong spirits. That would have included brandy and gin but not wine. The law was never passed because there was no way to conclusively prove that drinking caused a problem. I think it’s also possible that the problem was the problem of the lower classes instead of the upper or middling classes. As we already know, ladies were highly discouraged from imbibing too much wine, strong spirits were considered gentlemen’s drinks. Unfortunately, many women at the bottom of the class system in London were not only drinking gin, but giving it to their babies.

There is some evidence that the Western Islands of Scotland did ban women from drinking ale during pregnancy and while nursing. On the other hand, many countries, including mainland Scotland, encouraged ale for milk production for nursing women. As I mention during my Regency Libations class, women of all walks of life were encouraged to drink porter (it’s much like stout) while pregnant and nursing.

It was not until 1899 that a British found a much higher rate of stillborn baby in alcoholic mothers.