Breast-Feeding in London, 1905–19

Fildes, Valerie

doi:10.1017/s0021932000006799

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The merits of early visiting by a woman inspector or health visitor are still debated (see Reid, 2001a , 119–20 for an overview), but the notification of births and the health visiting system also allowed monitoring of the sort that enabled Howarth to perform his analysis, and many Medical Officers of Health began to publish feeding statistics in their annual reports. The analyses of such reports form the bulk of what is known about infant feeding in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Valerie Fildes collected statistics for 22 Local Authorities and 23 London Boroughs for the period 1900–1919, and Peter Atkins' data set includes information from 95 Local Authorities and 28 London Boroughs between 1902 and 1938 ( Fildes, 1990 , Fildes, 1992 , Fildes, 1998 , Atkins, 2003 ). These studies confirm that the majority of infants were breast-fed during their first two months and that hand-feeding was associated with a lethal penalty of high infant mortality (see also Buchanan, 1985 , 156; Dyhouse, 1978 , 255; Lewis, 1980 , 71; Marks, 1996 , 107–10).…”

Section: Infant Feeding In the Past And The Establishment Of Health Vmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infant feeding and child health and survival in Derbyshire in the early twentieth century

Reid

2017

Women's Studies International Forum

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This paper uses detailed records relating to feeding and health for a large sample of infants born in Derbyshire in the early twentieth century to provide a more detailed and nuanced picture than has previously been possible of the extent and duration of breast-feeding, reasons for ceasing to feed and the dangers of feeding in the early twentieth century. Results indicate that breast-feeding was the norm among working class British women in the early twentieth century, but the social gradient was the inverse to that found in Britain today. However this disguises much individual variation and early weaning was more common among twins, illegitimate infants, first births, and women in poor health, which placed infants at greater risk of death from many causes of death, but particularly gastro-intestinal infections. There is evidence that health visitors were successful both in promoting breast-feeding and in supporting safe hand-feeding.

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Section: Infant Feeding In the Past And The Establishment Of Health Vmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infant feeding and child health and survival in Derbyshire in the early twentieth century

Reid

2017

Women's Studies International Forum

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“…It is also possible that sickly neonates were less likely to have been breast fed, 10 and early poor health rather than breast feeding may have affected their growth. 32 Furthermore, within-family differences in feeding patterns may reflect differences between family members in infant health.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between breast feeding and growth: the Boyd-Orr cohort study

Martin

Smith

Mangtani

et al. 2002

Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition

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Objective: To investigate the association of breast feeding with height and body mass index in childhood and adulthood. Design: Historical cohort study, based on long term follow up of the Carnegie (Boyd-Orr) survey of diet and health in pre-war Britain (1937Britain ( -1939. Setting: Sixteen urban and rural districts in Britain. Subjects: A total of 4999 children from 1352 families were surveyed in 1937-1939. Information on infant feeding and childhood anthropometry was available for 2995 subjects. Main outcome measures: Mean differences in childhood and adult anthropometry between breast and bottle fed subjects. Results: Breast feeding was associated with the survey district, greater household income, and food expenditure, but not with number of children in the household, birth order, or social class. In childhood, breast fed subjects were significantly taller than bottle fed subjects after controlling for socioeconomic variables. The mean height difference among boys was 0.20 standard deviation (SD) (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.07 to 0.32), and among girls it was 0.14 SD (95% CI 0.02 to 0.27). Leg length, but not trunk length, was the component of height associated with breast feeding. In males, breast feeding was associated with greater adult height (difference: 0.34 SD, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.55); of the two components of height, leg length (0.26 SD, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.50) was more strongly related to breast feeding than trunk length (0.16 SD, 95% CI −0.04 to 0.35). Height and leg length differences were in the same direction but smaller among adult females. There was no association between breast feeding and body mass index in childhood or adulthood. Conclusions: Compared with bottle fed infants, infants breast fed in the 1920s and 1930s were taller in childhood and adulthood. As stature is associated with health and life expectancy, the possible long term impact of infant feeding on adult mortality patterns merits further investigation.

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“…On the other hand, since the health and nutritional status of the mother is a n important factor in the quantity and quality of breast milk, problems might continue beyond 1 year. As Fildes (1992) has pointed out, poor, undernourished women may breast-feed their children for several years, in some cases, to avoid frequent pregnancies and because of the difficulty of obtaining artificial foods. Under these circumstances it is not unreasonable to expect growth and health problems in breast-fed infants and children for longer than the postneonatal period and such a situation might have arisen in some past populations.…”

Section: Summary Of Enamel Hypoplasia Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weaning and infant mortality: Evaluating the skeletal evidence

Katzenberg

Herring

Saunders

1996

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

299

215

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Studies of prehistoric patterns of health and disease focus on interpretations of the evidence from hard tissue remains of past peoples. These interpretations are based on observations of living peoples and the sources of stress which may be expected to leave a record in their bones and teeth. One presumed source of stress that has received wide attention in the recent literature is weaning. The process of weaning is often associated with elevated risks of infant mortality and morbidity because infants no longer receive passive immunity from their mothers, and they are exposed to new sources of infection through the weaning diet. The process of weaning has also been tied to the duration of the contraceptive effects of nursing and the return of fecundity, which in turn provides information about birth spacing and population growth. Recently some of the basic assumptions about nursing and weaning, and their effects on morbidity, mortality and population growth, have been challenged, based on new technical and cross-cultural information. It is clear from the demographic literature that some studies based on skeletal samples tend to be too simplistic in terms of the causes of infant morbidity and mortality. This paper reviews current research which relates weaning and infant mortality to health and reproduction in past populations and evaluates studies of enamel hypoplasia and bone chemistry for reconstructing infant feeding practices in the past. o 1996 WiIey-Liss, Inc.

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Breast-Feeding in London, 1905–19

Cited by 21 publications

References 15 publications

Infant feeding and child health and survival in Derbyshire in the early twentieth century

Infant feeding and child health and survival in Derbyshire in the early twentieth century

Association between breast feeding and growth: the Boyd-Orr cohort study

Weaning and infant mortality: Evaluating the skeletal evidence

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