Mother’s milk and infant death in Britain, circa 1900-1940

My contribution to this journal issue is to reconstruct the darker side of the most popular of infant foods. I will give a brief overview of contamination and disease in Britain's milk supply between 1880 and 1940, with particular reference to the impact upon infants. Not surprisingly, young ch...

Cur síos iomlán

Sábháilte in:
Sonraí bibleagrafaíochta
Foilsithe in:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/aof,
Príomhchruthaitheoir: Atkins, P.J.
Formáid: Article ou chapitre numérique
Teanga:Anglais
Foilsithe / Cruthaithe: Anthropology of food 2003
Rochtain ar líne:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Cur síos
Achoimre:My contribution to this journal issue is to reconstruct the darker side of the most popular of infant foods. I will give a brief overview of contamination and disease in Britain's milk supply between 1880 and 1940, with particular reference to the impact upon infants. Not surprisingly, young children consumed a substantial proportion of market milk and, as a result, they seem to have suffered heavily from diseases such as bovine tuberculosis and summer diarrhoea. I will ask why these children were not wholly breast-fed and why relying upon artificial foods was such a risk. Also, I will give a preliminary report on my findings from data I have collected on the feeding of over three million infants, as recorded in the Medical Officer of Health Reports of 130 Local Authorities, mainly from England and Wales.