The English wet-nurse and her role in infant care 1538–1800

Abstract

Despite the space devoted to studies of European nurses, wet-nursing in England has received scant attention. This is mainly because in some countries, such as France, wet-nursing was regulated by the state and therefore was documented extensively. Also, France and most other Catholic lands had numerous foundling hospitals for which detailed records, often dating from the Middle Ages, survive. But for England, apart from the archive relating to the country nurses of the London Foundling Hospital (founded 1739), and the few remaining records of the nurses employed by Christ's Hospital in the sixteenth century, the evidence is limited and scattered.' How the trade ofwet-nursing was organized and carried on outside these official institutions has received very little attention. Roger Finlay's study of the demography of London (1580-1650) has demonstrated that infants from wealthier parishes were sent out of London to be nursed in country parishes.2 Dorothy McLaren's detailed study of the Buckinghamshire parish of Chesham (1578-1601) has indicated that women who were nursing London infants may have used wet-nursing as a contraceptive technique once

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“…Gautier and Henry, 1958). Indeed, it was historical demographic research that focused attention on postpartum amenorrhea and on lactation effects as explanations for differences in fertility within and between populations (Fildes, 1986(Fildes, ,1988(Fildes, ,1995Henry, 1961;McLaren, 1979). Subsequent studies have confirmed a strong association between the duration of breast-feeding and the length of birth intervals, as well as support for the contraceptive effects of lactation (Dettwyler, 1987(Dettwyler, , 1988(Dettwyler, , 1995aGoldman et al, 1987;Knauer, 1985;Konner, 1985;McNeilly et al, 1983;Short, 1993;Stuart-Macadam and Dettwyler, 1995).…”

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“…1 The practice of medicine, centring on the unique doctor-patient relationship, cannot be conducted on the same lines as a business enterprise, such as an airline, with regulation by an elected Board of Directors, as advocated by Sir Donald Irvine 2 and Sir Liam Donaldson. 3 Professionalism is the basis of medicine's contract with society, 4 to whom it should be responsible, individually and a whole. As has been reported in the national press, 5 the General Medical Council (GMC) has already moved to proposing independent regulation through balanced composition of its regulatory council, with no one group having an inbuilt majority.…”

“…Infants from wealthier parishes were sent out of London to wet-nurses in country parishes. 3 Nursed children of wealthy parents apparently had the greatest risk of rickets. The wetnurse engaged in continuous breast feeding, even nursing several children simultaneously.…”

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“…1 The practice of medicine, centring on the unique doctor-patient relationship, cannot be conducted on the same lines as a business enterprise, such as an airline, with regulation by an elected Board of Directors, as advocated by Sir Donald Irvine 2 and Sir Liam Donaldson. 3 Professionalism is the basis of medicine's contract with society, 4 to whom it should be responsible, individually and a whole. As has been reported in the national press, 5 the General Medical Council (GMC) has already moved to proposing independent regulation through balanced composition of its regulatory council, with no one group having an inbuilt majority.…”

“…3 Nursed children of wealthy parents apparently had the greatest risk of rickets. The wetnurse engaged in continuous breast feeding, even nursing several children simultaneously.…”