What were babies given to eat before formula was invented?

Question

I know a lot of you will say that they were breastfed, but what about mothers such as myself that never really produced any milk? How were the babies fed then? If cow's milk is your answer, then where did they babies get their nutrition?

Answer 1

When my mom was pregnant with my older brother, she was walking on a sidewalk and tripped and went into labor. That was the very early 1950s, and he was 6-7 weeks early, and they didn't think he would live because he was so premature.

Because he was so early, she didn't have any milk at all, and she was afraid he'd die. The doctor's first suggestion was cow's milk, and my brother couldn't seem to keep it down, so then the doctor said try goat's milk. My grandpa worked at a dairy, and they only worked with cow's milk, but there was a goat farmer nearby, so he was able to get goat's milk for my mom to feed my brother. He did just fine on that. Since she delivered early, she never did get milk. At about six weeks, when he should have been being born, he was able to take goat's milk mixed with whole cow's milk. The doctor wanted him to have cow's milk for some reason, and had only had him on goat's milk because he had seemed allergic to the cow's milk. He went from a goat/cow milk mixture to regular whole cow's milk, and then pretty early the doctor had her start mixing in a tiny bit of some sort of cereal--I think it was rice cereal--the kind that makes a thin kind of gruel, like you feed to older babies.

Despite being really tiny at birth, and so early he had no finger or toenails, and no eyelashes or eyebrows, my brother did really well on the milk, and later the milk and cereal mixture. By the time he was 1 year old he was roly-poly and extremely healthy, and no one would ever have guessed that he had been a preemie in danger of dying.

Back then, women didn't normally breastfeed as long as they do now, so by 1 year he was eating a lot of mushy solids and some regular solids and still drinking whole milk. He kept on drinking milk like a mad man (though not whole--later on he drank 2%, and then skim) until the day he died.

I have read more than one historical account of what people did in that situation. The first choice was always to try and find another woman who could nurse the baby, but if that wasn't available, they used milk, usually either from a goat or a cow (and I have read of sheep's milk being used, as well). Also, in some cultures, if resources were limited, the mother might put something really soft in her mouth, and chew it up until it was like a paste, and then take in either water or milk to thin it, and then sort of push it into the baby's mouth with her tongue. I guess that would sort of be like formula. I have read of all those methods in books, and many of them are still used today.

I hope that helps.

Answer 2

It depends on how far back in history you go. In the 1940's onwards cows milk was offered. This was boiled, had small amounts of sugar added and was slightly watered down so it was tolerated. This was enough to sustain the baby till solids were introduced at about 3 months of age.

In the 1960's crude formulas were developed which was a better alternative to watered down cows milk. Prior to the 1940's wet nurses were the only way of providing nutrirtion to babies of people who could not breast feed or to the rich who were too busy to breast feed.

Answer 3

A wet nurse commonly breastfed infants when the natural mother could not.

Answer 4

wetnurses-someone else breastfeeding..

Answer 5

Mothers didn't have problems back then, as the majority of them are stigma and 'Learned' problems.

Wetnurses were used by the wealthy, and for when the mother had died during birth, But there wasn't a woman back then who couldn't breastfeed, because there wasn't any alternatives other then wetnurses.

Answer 6

Breast milk, either from the mother or a wet nurse

Answer 7

Hmmm well I would have thought cows milk. Maybe they didn't get the nurtition?

A lot of babies used to be malnurished.

You can always blend in a whole carrot, right?! xD

Answer 8

If the mother couldn't produce milk, she would try to find a wet nurse.  This could be as simple as a neighboring woman who also had an infant.  If none could be found, the baby would often be malnourished and often die.  

Answer 9

Why do you think you "never really produced any milk"? There are a lot of myths about that; barring obvious biological problem, you had milk, you just didn't know it.

The only other thing not mentioned here already is that they were occasionally nursed _directly_ from animals; some foundling hospitals had goats pastured for the purpose. The mortality rate was of course sky-high.

Formulas have been around for quite a while, though; see

http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbaby.htm...

Answer 10

When my mother was born it was the norm then to feed a baby corn syrup mixed with water. Talk about nasty. But that was in Newfoundland in the 50's.

Answer 11

My Grandmother told me that she gave her son "Pet Milk", also known as "Condensed Milk". The Carnation Milk that you can buy in a can. Also, she said she had to give one of her Daughters Coffee Mate Creamer because she was allergic to Milk....Its wild how Children survived on stuff such as that! :)  

Answer 12

Actually, when my grandparents were young, if a mother died, couldn't nurse, etc. they gave newborns goat milk not cow milk.  Goat milk was easier for the baby to digest and it was more like mom's milk than cow milk. Of course it had to be diluted with water!

Answer 13

Well yeah, breastmilk, it would have been rarer in those days for a woman not to produce milk herself as it was pretty much vital or else the baby could starve. Keep in mind formula has been around for a long time, before that women who couldn't feed their babies enough probably had another lactating woman feed the baby for them, and if there weren't any then they probably used milk from an animal

Answer 14

I think that if a mother wasn't able to provide milk herself, she would usually try to find someone else breastfeeding and get them to feed her baby as well. There wasn't really any other option.

Answer 15

Usually they hired another woman to breast feed the baby or gave it cows milk. Cows milk still has enough nutrition in it to sustain life but is not made for a human babies developing brain and body, so breast is better.  

Answer 16

well used to i would have told you(and this is correct too), the baby would starve and die, or the mom wouod find a wet nurse to feed her child. they would ire her on if they could. most moms can produce milk. contact the la leche leage, if this bothers you.

also, in the 1940's my sons grandmother fed my sons dad, evaporarted milk, watered down, with a little karo syrup. thats cause she was a drunk, and too preoccupied with keeping a man in her life, than to nusre her child constantly enough to produce a milk flow

Answer 17

My oldest sister is 45.  My mom fed us condensed milk (out of GLASS bottles).

Answer 18

Babies used to die more often then they do now.  You'll have a lot of rabid lactationists on here cutting and pasting from Kellymom.com about how formula kills children, but for the most part, formula feeds children adequate nutrition.  

If you were poor and couldn't nurse, you prayed you could find a neighbor or relative who was lactating and could raise your child.  Otherwise, you made a homemade formula with cows milk and molasses, or watched your child die.  

Answer 19

1) Rates of unsuccessful breastfeeding were far lower because women got the support they needed, they also tended not to be obese and not to have the same rates of hormone disruption from the environment, etc.

2) If they were lucky a wetnurse

3) If they weren't lucky then another animals milk (cow, goat, sheep) often mixed with other things (like blackstrap molasses).  And the simple fact is that many of these babies were "sickly" and did die -of course so did a lot of other children.