If you don't know, Victorians were very uptight about anything that hinted at sex. Queen Victoria was appalled at the sight of an obviously pregnant woman in public. And as the ultimate working mother, her NINE pregnancies must have been seriously inconvenient.
And yet, what was the attitude of the time towards breastfeeding? Elizabeth Gaskell is often noted not only for her stories, but also for her glimpse into the social expectations and norms of the time. Her novel Mary Barton is no exception.
Now, while discussing the references to nursing in the novel it is important to note that the characters are poor. Most people didn't write books about poor people. And rich people had wet nurses. In War and Peace, Natasha chooses to nurse her children herself, and this is seen as something very odd for a woman of her standing.
So, the attitudes presented in Gaskell's novel are of the working poor. Here is a section from the 2nd chapter:
"Mrs Wilson, in the post of honor, the rocking chair, on the right side of the fire, nursing her baby, while its father, in the opposite arm-chair tried vainly to quiet the other with bread soaked in milk."
There's two interesting tidbits here. First, there is no mention of Mrs. Wilson covering up. Perhaps her readers would assume she did. However, a quick google search yielded pictures like this:
from websites like this. Reading the whole section in Mary Barton, it seems more like everyone just assumes she needs to feed her baby and leaves her to it.
The other interesting bit is about the "bread soaked in milk." There is a similar references to this later when an old man describes bringing his granddaughter home from London. His daughter and son-in-law had died and the two fathers-in-law have to carry home the new baby. In his story, he mentions over and over again getting a piece of bread and soaking it in milk.
The first rubber nipple was invented in 1845. This book takes place between 1838-1842. Even so, the characters in this book are struggling to find the milk to give the a baby. I doubt they could afford to buy "luxuries" such as baby bottles. So, what did you do when the mother dies and there isn't a wet nurse around? I guess you soaked a piece of bread in milk and let the baby suck on it.
There is at least one more reference to nursing. There is a section where two men are helping a man who is dying of starvation. One of them comes into find the wife nursing the youngest of the dying man's children.
"'Surely the lad is weaned!' exclaimed he, in surprise. 'Why, how old is he?'
'Going on two year, she faintly answered. 'But, oh! it keeps him quiet when I've nought else to gi' him, and he'll get a bit of sleep lying there, if he's getten nough beside.'"
So, it appears that extended nursing is unusual by his surprise. However, it was sometimes necessary for the poor who had no other food to give their babies. But again, he is not surprised to walk in on her nursing.
I'd have to do much more research to find if these attitudes and practices were common. But it is interesting to see that in someways at least, Victorian England was a lot less uptight about public breastfeeding than our sex-obsessed culture. Perhaps it is because for the Victorians, the emphasis on breastfeeding was on the feeding. Our culture can't seem to get past the "breast" part of that word.
And yet, what was the attitude of the time towards breastfeeding? Elizabeth Gaskell is often noted not only for her stories, but also for her glimpse into the social expectations and norms of the time. Her novel Mary Barton is no exception.
Now, while discussing the references to nursing in the novel it is important to note that the characters are poor. Most people didn't write books about poor people. And rich people had wet nurses. In War and Peace, Natasha chooses to nurse her children herself, and this is seen as something very odd for a woman of her standing.
So, the attitudes presented in Gaskell's novel are of the working poor. Here is a section from the 2nd chapter:
"Mrs Wilson, in the post of honor, the rocking chair, on the right side of the fire, nursing her baby, while its father, in the opposite arm-chair tried vainly to quiet the other with bread soaked in milk."
There's two interesting tidbits here. First, there is no mention of Mrs. Wilson covering up. Perhaps her readers would assume she did. However, a quick google search yielded pictures like this:
The other interesting bit is about the "bread soaked in milk." There is a similar references to this later when an old man describes bringing his granddaughter home from London. His daughter and son-in-law had died and the two fathers-in-law have to carry home the new baby. In his story, he mentions over and over again getting a piece of bread and soaking it in milk.
The first rubber nipple was invented in 1845. This book takes place between 1838-1842. Even so, the characters in this book are struggling to find the milk to give the a baby. I doubt they could afford to buy "luxuries" such as baby bottles. So, what did you do when the mother dies and there isn't a wet nurse around? I guess you soaked a piece of bread in milk and let the baby suck on it.
There is at least one more reference to nursing. There is a section where two men are helping a man who is dying of starvation. One of them comes into find the wife nursing the youngest of the dying man's children.
"'Surely the lad is weaned!' exclaimed he, in surprise. 'Why, how old is he?'
'Going on two year, she faintly answered. 'But, oh! it keeps him quiet when I've nought else to gi' him, and he'll get a bit of sleep lying there, if he's getten nough beside.'"
So, it appears that extended nursing is unusual by his surprise. However, it was sometimes necessary for the poor who had no other food to give their babies. But again, he is not surprised to walk in on her nursing.
I'd have to do much more research to find if these attitudes and practices were common. But it is interesting to see that in someways at least, Victorian England was a lot less uptight about public breastfeeding than our sex-obsessed culture. Perhaps it is because for the Victorians, the emphasis on breastfeeding was on the feeding. Our culture can't seem to get past the "breast" part of that word.
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