And now a message from 1914.

I was just reading The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning, which has an interesting introductory section on the age of weaning through history.  This quote put the poster in context:

"...by 1915 [the recommended age of weaning] had declined to seven to eight months.  Several trends coincided, moreover, to make many women wean earlier than recommended and others fail at breastfeeding or never even attempt it.  First, women spent more time away from home; while the Industrial Revolution sent poor women into factories, some wealthy women entered professions, and even more joined volunteer organizations...At the same time, the extreme prudishness of Victorian culture made public breastfeeding inconceivable...

Thanks to Amanda for this one!

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Comments

[Maureen]

So interesting - thanks for sharing.

[Alison]

Along the same lines, Jacqueline Wolf has a book called "Don’t Kill Your Baby: Public Health and the Decline of Breastfeeding in the 19th and 20th Centuries." It's a fascinating story of how public health efforts to provide clean cow's milk ultimately undermined breastfeeding. Many of the key points are summarized in an article in the American Journal of Public Health, Low Breastfeeding Rates and Public Health in the United States. The URL is http://www.ajph.org/cgi/reprint/93/12/2000