Breast feeding in the middle ages : Wet Nurses

Wet nurses were often employed in the middle ages to provide milk for babies whose mothers were unwilling or unable to breast feed. For example, wealthy and noble women often chose not to breast feed. Breast feeding is a natural contraceptive as the hormones that produce milk prevent ovulation – nature’s way of ensuring a mother can give her resources to nurture one child at a time. But noble women were expected to produce as many babies as possible to ensure a good supply of heirs.

Furthermore, breast feeding would probably cramp the style of these socially active women. I suppose the sight of the Countess of Wherever baring a breast at the King’s court to suckle a screaming child would be the medieval equivalent of breast feeding in Harrod’s today.

Wet nurses were also employed by ordinary working families, usually if the mother had died, or was for some other reason unable to produce enough milk. The alternatives to breast feeding – soaking rags in animal’s milk and squeezing them into the baby’s mouth, or tipping in milk from a horn cup – tended to result in a rather high infant mortality rate.

Wet nurses were often highly valued, especially in large wealthy households where they were usually regarded as one of the upper servants, and might stay with the family for years. Many life long bonds were formed between nurse and child.

The practice of wet nursing became less popular in the 19th century due in part to scares that diseases such as tuberculosis and syphilis could be transferred by breast milk. Better alternatives to mother’s milk slowly became available but children fed on these still had a much higher mortality rate than those who were breast fed.

The next blog will be about what Jane Sharp had to say regarding the choice of a wet nurse.