Breasts for hire and shared breastfeeding: Wet nursing and cross feeding in Australia, 1900-2000

Thorley, V. (2008) Breasts for hire and shared breastfeeding: Wet nursing and cross feeding in Australia, 1900-2000. Health and History: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine, 10 1: 88-109.


Author Thorley, V.
Title Breasts for hire and shared breastfeeding: Wet nursing and cross feeding in Australia, 1900-2000
Journal name Health and History: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine  (ERA 2012 Listed)    (ERA 2010 Rank C)   Check publisher's open access policy
Publication date 2008
Sub-type Article
Volume number 10
Issue number 1
ISSN 1442-1771
Start page 88
End page 109
Total pages 22
Editor Pols, H.
Place of publication Australia
Publisher Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine
Collection year 2009
Language eng
Subject C1
430101 History - Australian
Abstract Wet nursing and cross-nursing both involve the breastfeeding of a baby by someone who is not the baby's mother. They differ in that wet nurses were usually employees in paid situations and the breastfeeding was not reciprocated, whereas cross-nursing was between peers and was usually unpaid and could be reciprocal. In Australia at the turn of the twentieth century wet nurses were employed in private homes or institutions. By the 1920s, finding a wet nurse had become extremely difficult, but informal cross-feeding existed long after this. This study examines both practices in twentieth century Australia, 1900-2000, and includes a discussion of the decline of human milk banks, another means of sharing mothers' milk.
Q-Index Code C1
Q-Index Status Confirmed Code
Institutional Status UQ

 
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Created: Wed, 02 Jul 2008, 13:00:25 EST by Ms Emma Pursey on behalf of School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics