胸哺與瓶哺－近代中國哺乳觀念的變遷(1900-1949)

Abstract

Children did not play an important role in Chinese history. Recently, however, children's importance in human culture was rediscovered, stemming from the weakened Chinese nation and the Western influence. Women, being a ”Nation's Mother,” were asked to stay home and protect the nation's offspring. To benefit both mother and infant, the Chinese started to pay special attention to the best infant feeding methods. In line with developments in medicine and technology, ”breast milk” from breast-feeding and ”cow milk” from bottle-feeding became extensively discussed nursing topics in the early 20(superscript th) century. This research delves into four key elements: first, how the importance of children was rediscovered; second, breast-feeding and wet-nursing from modern medicine and the academic's point of view; third, deciding factors of cow milk and such dairy products in the infant's market; finally, the competitive situation between breast-feeding and bottle-feeding.