February 7th, 2009
So! As usual I have succumbed to yet another hiatus. I am trying to blog more regularly about historic breastfeeding, but life keeps getting in the way and before I know it a day has turned into a week and then a week has turned into a month. Yada. Yada. You’ve heard it before…
To help me gain more energy and focus, I’ve enlisted the help of my good friend, Penny of BottlingHealth.com, to assist me with my food choices and meditation. There
is so much that I want to accomplish in my life, but at the moment, everything is really stagnant and I find myself with so little time to do the things I love, like write and research f
or this blog, for instance! With Penny’s help I plan to get back on track and blog here more often. And if all else fails you can always nudge me on Twitter or email me at jjames[at]themomsalon.com and tell me to post again!!
With all that said, Krista, a reader, sent me links to historic breastfeeding photographs that she found and I’d like to share them with you.
Both of the pictures are from the Life photo collection on Google. The first shows the common-law wife of farmer Pedro Pablo Caceres breast-feeding infant in 1964. Paraquay. The second photograph was also taken in 1964 and shows an Israeli mother breast feeding her baby.
Thank you, Krista, for taking the time to send me these photographs and for reading this blog. Thank you also for your patience. I was delighted by your email and am thrilled that you enjoy spending time reading what I dig up about historic breastfeeding. — Jennifer
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November 18th, 2008
This picture is actually quite difficult for me to look at beca
use it is extremely obvious how this mother just wants the best for her baby, but is solely relying on artificial means to make him well. This photograph was taken by Dorothea Lange and is entitled: Wife and sick child of tubercular itinerant, stranded in New Mexico. August 1936.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USF34-009747-E DLC]
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November 16th, 2008
…even after mama has picked cotton for the day.
Cotton picker, Kaufman County, Texas 1936
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September 24th, 2008
Again…breastfeeding in public: No big deal!
Here is a mother hulling berries while she nurses her infant. Her other children sit beside her, also at work. Little Mabel Cuthrie [i.e., Guthrie?], 4 yrs. old started working last year. Location: [Seaford?, Delaware?] May 1910.
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September 18th, 2008
One of the aspects of life in the 30s and 40s and before is that breastfeeding was so natural that countless moms breastfed in the midst of families, friends and, yes, even strangers. Look at this mom who breastfed even in full view of a photographer, a veritable stranger, who was hired by the government to take photographs of American life.
This is a coal miner’s wife and child while discussing conditions of house, lack of steady work for husband. Bertha Hill, West Virginia 1938 Sept.
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September 10th, 2008
Migrant mother and child in tent home. Harlingen, Texas 1939 Feb.
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August 31st, 2008
There once was a time when drinking contaminated milk meant severe illness and even death. Many babies died as a result of spoiled milk until production and storage regulations were set in place to ensure the public safety of Americans.
I found an interesting article from the Citizen newspaper (Berea, KY) dated July 28, 1910 about infant feeding. The article was entitled: Death Rate Among Children Our Shame and in it, the writer discusses ways to keep babies from dying from contaminated milk. To my surprise the first recommendation was to breastfeed:
In practically all cases the mother can and should nurse her own baby. Breast mllk Is the natural food for the newborn baby. No other food can compare with it. Ten bottlefed babies die to one that Is breastfed.
Immediately after birth do not use any kind of artificial food or teas for the baby while waiting for the breast milk to come. Put the baby to the breast every four hours and give nothing else but water that has been boiled.
The article also had important weaning advice and showed me once again that it was the 30s and 40s that witnessed a surge in bottlefeeding. In 1910, at least in Kentucky, breastfeeding was touted as the best nutrition for babies. If you would like to read the full article for yourself click here.
Tags: 1910, breastfeeding, breastfeeding history, newspapers
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August 26th, 2008
Here is yet another example of bottle feeding in the 1940s. From the pictures I have found on the Library of Congress Web site it seems that the 1940s saw an explosion of moms who chose to feed their babies formula as opposed to breastfeeding.
I know that during World War II a whole host of women entered the workforce causing moms to find an alternative way to feed their babies. But during this time, canned milk manufacturers readily advertised their formula to nurses and doctors as stated by a rural nurse in a 1939 document from the Federal Writers Project. This advertising undoubtedly influenced mothers’ feeding choices as well.
One of the things about this blog is that I am learning as I go along and any insight you can provide is always appreciated. I am purposely not reading breastfeeding history books because I want to piece together the puzzle myself through the evidence I find on the Library of Congress Web site.
Middle River, Maryland. A FSA (Farm Security Administration) housing project (later administered by the National Housing Agency) for Glenn L. Martin aircraft workers. Mother feeding a baby.1943 Aug.?Collier, John, 1913-LC-USW3-035949-E DLC
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