My mother says that when she was a child, her parents would give her milk and saltine crackers when she had a stomachache. Supposedly, the milk would “coat the stomach” (that’s what her parents told her). She’s not sure what the crackers were for, but she has a few theories: (1) crackers are bland and don’t have any spices that could irritate your stomach, (2) it’s just something random, or (3) the crackers supposedly absorbed harmful/painful stomach acid due to their texture or somesuch.
She also reports that whenever Milk & Saltine Therapy was prescribed, her parents would ask her a series of questions designed to determine whether the stomach pain was caused by a viral infection. This was important because if you drank milk while you had a viral infection it would “curdle your stomach” (again, that’s what her parents told her).
Can anybody deliver the Straight Dope on this?
It just sounds like simple home remedies to me. Milk doesn’t really coat your stomach, but it’s an easily digestible food ( unless your lactose intolerant), as are saltines.
The starches in saltines are turned into sugar quite readily, just hold a piece in your mouth and you can sense the change in taste as enzymes in your saliva turn the starch into sugar.
Umm, change “your” to '“you’re”. Sorry.
Saltines used to be called (in some areas) “soda crackers”.
An antacid, maybe?
Peace,
mangeorge
My father, who was a Dr., told me when I was having acid heartburn problems that milk doesn’t help, and in fact hurts. I forgot why, sorry. Soda crackers do help, though. Unsalted better than salted.
Oh, I found a link that seems to support my previous post:
Here
Doctor’s instructions from my very recent bout with salmonella: no caffeine, no dairy, no spicy food; clear liquids only for drinking, including sodas such as ginger ale; stop taking any drug such as Prilosec or Nexium. I was living on saltines, toast and herbal tea.
Back to the OP; 
Ok, if saltine = soda cracker, from m-w;
(bolding is mine}
Sometimes old traditions die hard.
I’ve found milk irritates my upset stomach, but stuffing it with crackers and Sprite works.
Is it the lactic acid in milk that makes an acid stomach worse?
Why not take Pepto Bismol, which was designed to help stomache aches?