Abstract
It is often assumed that before the twentieth century most children were breast fed by their mothers. However, this view is not substantiated by research into methods of infant feeding in pre industrial Europe and America. The practice of (maternal) breast feeding, and attitudes about it, varied according to social class, religion, regional custom, climate and nationality (Fildes, 1986b). We shall deal first with the question of differences in feeding according to the class and status in society of the parents. The upper and educated classes have left diaries, memoires, letters, and other written evidence about their married life and that of their children so that their method and rationale of infant feeding is well documented, (Stone, 1977 Pollock, 1983).
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© 1988 The Eugenics Society
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Fildes, V. (1988). Historical Changes in Patterns of Breast feeding. In: Diggory, P., Potts, M., Teper, S. (eds) Natural Human Fertility. Studies in Biology, Economy and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09961-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09961-0_8
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