The age of weaning in Britain 1500–1800

Abstract

SummaryInformation is collected from the literature on the age at which British children were weaned from the breast between 1500 and 1800. The weaning age recommended by ‘professionals’ was compared with that said by contemporaries to be common, and with those found in a sample of 42 children. A significant decrease was found in the length of suckling particularly after 1750; this was possibly related to the availability and social acceptability of artificial feeding, an increase in the incidence of maternal suckling among upper and middle class women, and the effects of industrialization. The reason for weaning was individual to each nursing couple; no significant difference was found between the weaning age of males and females, or between wet nursed and maternally breast-fed infants; the weaning age within families was not significantly different from a sample of unrelated children within the same period. Between 1650 and 1800 the weaning age recommended by medical writers was apparently representative of actual practice.