Flash Back Friday: 9 {breastfeeding throughout history series 2}

Breastfeeding in the early 1900′s -

Breastfeeding in the 18th and 19th century was predominantly done by paid wet nurses especially for the higher class but by the 20th century more artificial milk was introduced so with more alternatives, breastfeeding declined.

Many believe the initial experience for mothers right after childbirth and the recent breastmilk alternatives available were two of the main factors as to why breastfeeding started to decline in the early 1900s…

Nestle Infant Formula – I love how it says “the safest form of food”

{image via Myth No More}

It was believed by physicians that mothers needed an extended rest without their child after giving birth so the baby would be put in the nursery. Only when the mother recovered would she be reunited with her child.  Keep in mind, a mother’s stay in the hospital during this time was about a week.  Yikes! You would have another thing coming, if you told me I couldn’t be with my baby! Connor didn’t leave my side!  I wonder what mothers were thinking back then… did they just do what they were told?  Didn’t some instinctively know they should be with their child… That they wanted to be with their child? How must they have felt not being able to? 

Mother’s were having problems maintaining an adequate milk supply for their children (wonder why.. they weren’t with them right after birth!) and physicians didn’t have an answer for them.  We now know, of course, that it most simply supply and demand.  If you nurse often enough, for long enough until your baby is finished she will receive the nourishment they need.

In time, mothers started viewing breastfeeding as old fashioned and bottle feeding as modern.  In 1948, Dr. Katharine Bain published a study showing out of 39,171 infants only 38%  of them were being fed breastmilk by the day of their discharge from the hospital.  Less than half made it out of the hospital being nourished by their mother! I remember my Grandmother (who had 7 babies starting with my father in 1954)  telling me this same thing – “It just wasn’t the thing to do back then.  We didn’t know how good breastfeeding was and I wish I would have.”

With the fact that babies lose weight in the first few days encouraged more mothers to wean from the breast.  Physicians recommended it, simply because it was easier to keep track of how much the baby is eating when bottle fed. Which sounds all too familiar to me even, today.  I still hear people telling me that their doctors recommend formula or even rice cereal for a small (what they presume underweight) baby. If it’s a healthy baby otherwise, doesn’t that just make the baby a small, healthy baby? We’re all different sizes during different times in our life.  Just silly-ness to me in most cases but moving on…. 

Alas, La Leche League was founded by 6 mothers in 1956 which helped normalize and inform young mothers on breastfeeding! The seventies were right around the corner and the trend in breastfeeding would change yet again…  stay tuned next week!

It still amazes me how perspectives change over time.  I wonder what will be said about our generation…

have you read Flash Back Friday – Breastfeeding in the 18th century?