A HISTORY OF BRESTFEEDING. Its Iconography and Medical Importance

During human history, infants were fed human milk for survival, either through breastfeeding by their mothers or adoptive breastfeeding by other women. From antiquity to today, breastfeeding has been valued, reflected in mythology, philosophy, art, and religion worldwide. In ancient Armenia, it was prized for its health benefits, with wet nurses serving the upper classes while rural women breastfed for economic reasons. Colostrum was once deemed harmful but gained recognition in 1699 through Michael Ettmüller. During the European Renaissance, breastfeeding saw renewed appreciation in art, with depictions like suckler Lady and suckler Eve symbolising respect for motherhood.

Figures such as Hildegard of Bingen and Regina Areshian, founder of the Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection in Armenia, studied maternal hygiene and wet nursing. This work explores sociological, medical, and moral treatises on these themes, informed by research on the Virgo Lactans and Virgin of Humility. Iconography studies, such as those by Williamson, Sperling, Rivera, and Bergmann, provide critical insights into the Eve-Mary relationship and sacred images, though scholarly consensus on breastfeeding and wet nursing in the Middle Ages remains elusive.

You may also like the following events from Centre for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance - CSMBR:

• This month, 27th May, 03:00 pm, GALEN AND THE QUESTION OF METABOLISM. Body and Environment in Ancient Medicine in Pisa, Italy
• This month, 29th May, 02:00 pm, PREGNANT WOMEN'S WELLBEING IN JANE SHARP'S "THE MIDWIVES' BOOK" (1671) in Pisa, Italy
• Next month, 10th June, 03:00 pm, MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND. What Can We Learn from Mass Biographies? in Pisa, Italy

Also check out other Health & Wellness events in George, Arts events in George, Fine Arts events in George.