Sweet and Clean: A Glance at the History of Infant Feeding By
Dr. Ruth M. W. Moskop and Melissa M. Nasea Reprinted with
permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian, Spring 2007. Tar
Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History Until
the 1900s, an infant’s health and survival depended largely on
having its mother’s milk to drink. Doctors still recommend
mother’s milk as the best food for babies. Modern,
scientifically produced formulas in clean bottles, however, now
offer another safe choice for babies in North Carolina and
elsewhere. Few records exist about infant feeding during the
Middle Ages, but we know that between 1500 and the late 1700s it
was not fashionable for wealthier women in the West to nurse
their babies. This trend continued into the 1800s, in spite of
expert advice that infants should drink mother’s milk, if
possible. Often, families hired another woman, called a wet
nurse, to feed the baby. Many babies in North Carolina were
brought up “by the hand,” which means they were fed ar