September 15th, 2008
This is a photo I found in early spring and posted to my personal blog. It’s such a great photo that I had to post it here as well.
Although this photo isn’t dated, I wager a bet it was taken during the mid to late 1930s. It may potentially be the early 1940s. What is particularly telling about this photograph are the notes on the back of the photo (below) and the fact that once again breastfeeding in public was no big deal before the formula industry changed the perception of infant feeding (almost irreparably) in this country. The men could care less that a woman’s exposed breast is in full view of everyone, although the little boy on the right does seem a little enthralled by the baby breastfeeding.
Written Notes on Item
a) Part of Social Hour audience at Shafter Camp (handwritten on reverse); b) Todd’s favorite picture of an “Okie Family” in Shafter F.S.A. Camp. Nursing babies was the usual thing at camp “Socials.” (typed and attached to reverse)
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September 10th, 2008
Migrant mother and child in tent home. Harlingen, Texas 1939 Feb.
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September 9th, 2008
I believe the mother sitting on the bench whose face is partially blocked and is sitting in front of the tree is breastfeeding in public, but I can’t be absolutely sure. What do you think?
Mothers and children in a city park on a hot day, New York City] between ca. 1908 and 1919. Bain News Service photograph.
Tags: breastfeeding in public
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September 8th, 2008
Despite what sometimes feels like hostile reactions toward breastfeeding in public these days, there is a long tradition of nursing in public even though there were decades when mothers were taught to bottle feed as opposed to breastfeed. Here is a photo from May 15, 1916. The title of the photo is “The cornstock madonna” and was taken by Orin Crooker, Hoopeston, Ill.
Tags: breastfeeding in public
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September 7th, 2008
Before I even read the caption for this photograph below, I knew it had to have been taken in the 1940s. How is a mother supposed to bond with her baby by breastfeeding when it’s in another room?
Nurse Aiko Hamaguchi, mother Frances Yokoyama, baby Fukomoto, Manzanar Relocation Center, California, 1943 / Ansel Adams
Tags: 1940s, babies, breastfeeding
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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 28th, 2008
I think this photograph is quite interesting. This was nurse training in 1942 — preparing bottles of formula. The caption reads: Nurse training. In a hospital’s formula kitchen, student nurses prepare dozens of bottles for dozens of babies. Each set of bottles contains different amounts and is made up of various ingredients. Formula is made up once a day, and bottles are labeled and kept in the refrigerator until needed. November 1942.
I guess there wasn’t much breastfeeding going on in this hospital!
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number, LC-USE6-D-006952 DLC]
Tags: breastfeeding, formula
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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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August 20th, 2008
It’s no wonder breastfeeding had to literally make a comeback among American mothers in the 1960s and 70s. If this picture is indicative of the baby prep classes taught throughout the country in the 1940s, it is truly remarkable that breastfeeding ever made a resurgence in this country.
Here is a photograph from October 1943 of a Washington, DC home economics class at Woodrow Wilson High School. Notice the baby bottles!
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number,LC-USW3-039779-D DLC ] Photographer: Ester Bubley
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August 19th, 2008
Blogging for Mothering magazine is truly a dream come true for me! I never thought in a million years that I would be able to write on a daily basis for a magazine that I adore about a subject I hold dear: breastfeeding.
The angle I will take on breastfeeding here is going to be a bit unconventional. I won’t be blogging about current news and events surrounding breastfeeding. Instead I will blog about historic breastfeeding and show evidence that over the years the formula industry aided in making nursing in public taboo.
Some of you may know me from my personal breastfeeding blog, and others of you may be reading my writing for the very first time. A lot of what I have previously written I will also share here. I will publish a whole host of new photos and archived information about breastfeeding that has largely been lost to history.
On my about page it mentions a photograph I found on the Library of Congress website that prompted me on this never-ending search for more historic breastfeeding photos. Well, here it is. Here is the photo that started it all. I hope you join me as I find more and more photos and writings that show how much nursing in public was a part of everyday life for so many mothers for so long.
I’d like to introduce you to a mother who is traveling from Louisville, Kentucky to Memphis, Tennessee on a Greyhound bus. Here, she is waiting in the Chattanooga bus terminal and breastfeeding in public in September 1943.
Tags: 1940s, breastfeeding in public
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