As a grandma (with grandchildren numbers 13 and 14 on the way!), I'm inclined, as a general principle, to believe that old ways are (almost) always the best. I have to admit, however, to having a few doubts about some of these:
Previous, semi-related posts:
How to Prevent Pregnancy, c. 1260 (the weasel/scorpion method), plus other dubious pregnancy and newborn advice from the past.
Advice from c. 530: How To Use Bacon, including for medicinal purposes such as "thick bacon, placed for a long time on all wounds, be they external or internal or caused by a blow, both cleanses any putrefaction and aids healing".
Advice from 1489: To stay young, suck blood from a youth.
How to Stop Bleeding, 1664:
“To Stench a Bleeding Wound: Lay hogs Dung, hot from the Hog, to the Bleeding Wound.”
~Samuel Strangehopes, A Book of Knowledge in Three Parts (166[4])
Dubious medical device du jour - the prostate warmer.
Advice from 1380: How to Tell if Someone Is or Is Not Dead, with bonus Monty Python.
Urine-drinking Hindu cult believes a warm cup before sunrise straight from virgin cow cures cancer, baldness.
Further reading: If you like this sort of thing (or need a Christmas present for someone who does), I highly recommend:
Ask the Past: Pertinent and Impertinent Advice from Yesteryear, put together by the excellent blog Ask The Past and/or, for more narrowly focused questionable medical advice:
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