Mommy Juice

About

Mommy Juice is a slang term for wine or other alcohol drunk by mothers to relieve the stress of parenting. It is often used on blogs about motherhood, known as mommy blogs, within the context of the joke "It's not wine, it's mommy juice." However, the joke became the subject of controversy as some felt that it normalized and promoted alcohol dependency.

Origin

The origin of the joke is unknown and likely existed prior to its online prevalence. However, on November 6th, 2006, the New York Times^[1] published the article "Cosmopolitan Moms," which features the image caption, "At play dates at Kelley Ann Mansfield’s home in Philadelphia, the moms’ fruit juice is aged." one of the earliest references to "mommy juice."

In 2007, the blog "It's Mommy Juice" launched.^[2] One of the earliest posts comes from January 15th, 2007. The blog features a header image that features the joke (shown below).

Spread

On February 16th, 2008, Urban Dictionary ^[3] user b. hanback defined mommy juice as "a drink for a mom. beer or liquor for a mom that is tired of dealing with her screaming kids" (shown below, left).

The joke continued to spread to other platforms. For example, on October 11th, 2012, YouTuber SLFXproduction published the video "Mommy Juice Wines – TGIF (Katy Perry Parody)" (shown below, right).

In the mid-2010s, some became concerned about the joke and spoke out against the normalization of "mommy juice." On April 2nd, 2014, NBC^[4] published "Hitting the mommy juice too hard? Experts warn of alcohol abuse by moms." In the article, they warn that alcohol abuse was rising among mothers. They write:

For many moms, alcohol is a harmless antidote to anxiety, but experts worry that more women are drinking to excess and putting themselves and their kids at risk.

“I’m seeing it widespread across the country – an increase of moms, particularly with young kids, coming in for treatment,” Deni Carise, deputy chief clinical officer at CRC Health Group, the nation’s largest provider of addiction treatment, told Maria Shriver on TODAY.

These concerns continued over the decade. For example, on September 6th, 2019, Good Morning America^[5] published the segment "Is 'Mommy Juice' culture hurting moms" (shown below). The following year, on September 13th, 2020, NBC^[5] published "COVID-19 drinking spawns new 'mommy juice' memes. But the truth isn't cute -- or funny."

Mommy Juice is also a popular topic of video on TikTok.^[6] The #mommyjuice hashtag has more than 4.2 million views as of September 2020. On April 12th, 2020, TikToker taytaymoscato shared a video of herself drinking wine as she asked her child to call it mom's "happy juice." The post received more than 3 million reactions and 14,000 comments (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References