“The closest thing to a mother’s milk”: the introduction of ‘formula milk’ and bottle feeding and their medical regulation in Spain (1926–1936)

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In Spain in the last third of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, the concern to reduce infant mortality led to a health campaign to deal with the problem. In turn, the campaign found its professional expression in childcare. The regulation of food for the very young was one of its aims. Childcare discourse maintained its support for breast-feeding, against all other options. Nevertheless, throughout the first half of the twentieth century, in the special conditions arising from the Civil War and post-war period, there was a growing use of infant feeding formulas. This article seeks to explore the process of their introduction and the subsequent increase in the use of milk formulas and “milk substitutes” in the Spain of the first third of the twentieth century, with special emphasis on the 1920s and 1930s. It describes and analyses some of the actors that played a part in the process.