Breastfeeder - History

History

In the Egyptian, Greek and Roman empires, women usually fed only their own children. However, breastfeeding began to be seen as something too common to be done by royalty, and wet nurses were employed to breastfeed the children of the royal families. This was extended over the ages, particularly in western Europe, where noble women often made use of wet nurses. But lower class women breastfeed their infants and used a wet nurse only if they were unable to feed their own infant. Attempts were made in 15th century Europe to use cow or goat milk, but these attempts were not successful. In the 18th century, flour or cereal mixed with broth were introduced as substitutes for breastfeeding, but this did not have a favorable outcome either.

During the early 1900's breastfeeding started to be view in a negatively by Western societies, especially in Canada and the USA. These societiess considered it a low class and uncultured practices, viewing it with a certain degree of disgust. This coincided with the appearance of improved infant formulas in the mid 19th century and its increased, which accelerated after World War II. From the 1960s onwards, breastfeeding experience a revival which continues to the 2000s, though negative attitudes towards the practise was still intrenched up to 1990s.