A history of infant feeding. I. Primitive peoples; ancient works; Renaissance writers.

Abstract

The history of infant feeding from primitive times through the Renaissance period is reviewed. The duration of lactation varied considerably among primitive tribes; the average length of lactation was 3-4 years up to a maximum of 7 years among the Eskimos and 15 years in King Willaim Land. Position of the mother during breast feeding varied from the baby in a horizontal position on the mothers lap to the mother crouching over the baby. Modern psychoanalysis has discovered that breast feeding can make a permanent imprint on the psychic pattern of the baby which is related to personality development and possible psychoneurotic reactions. The earliest medical document on infant nutrition and care is the Ebers papyrus (1550 B.C.). Information on infant nutrition in biblical times comes directly from the Bible and Hippocrates (460-378 B.C.) wrote about child care in ancient Greece. The writer of greatest importance during the Greco-Roman period was Soranus of Ephesus (2nd century A.D.) who wrote a treatise on gynecology with 23 chapters on infant feeding teething and childrens diseases. Galens (130-200 A.D.) writings on infant feeding had a great influence on medical throught throughout the Middle Ages. Paulus Aginetas (625-690 A.D.) wrote extensively on the choice of a proper wet nurse. Wet nurses were very often employed in Roman times so much so that the historian Tacitus condemned their excessive use. The Renaissance saw many printed works on pediatrics the most important of which was Roesslins Rosengarten and Phayers (1510- 1560) Boke of Children; which insisted upon the importance of a good wet nurse. 15th and 16th century pediatric treatises however added little or nothing to what had been handed down from the Greeks and the Romans. There are very few remarks on the use of artificial milk although there is ample evidence that animal milk was used for infant feeding in ancient times.