Wet nurse
Encyclopedia
A wet nurse is a woman who is used to breast feed
and care for another's child. Wet nurses are used when the mother is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cultures the families are linked by a special relationship of milk kinship
. Mothers who nurse each other's babies are engaging in a reciprocal act known as cross-nursing or co-nursing.
is unable or chooses not to breastfeed her infant. Before the development of baby formulas in the 20th century, when a natural mother was unable to breastfeed her baby, the baby's life was put in danger if a wet nurse was not available. There are many reasons why a mother is unable to lactate
or to produce sufficient breast milk. Reasons include the serious or chronic illness of the mother and her treatment which creates a temporary difficulty to nursing. Additionally, a mother's taking drugs (prescription or illegal) may necessitate a wet nurse if a drug in any way changes the content of the mother's milk. Some women choose not to breastfeed for social reasons and status.
Wet nurses have also been used when a mother cannot produce sufficient breast milk, i.e. the mother feels incapable of adequately nursing her child, especially following multiple birth
s. Wet nurses tend to be more common in places where the maternal mortality is high.
of prolactin
production and secretion. Some adoptive mothers have been able to establish lactation using a breast pump
so that they could feed an adopted infant.
Dr Gabrielle Palmer states:
, where monarchies
, the aristocracy
, nobility
or upper class
es had their children wet-nursed in the hope of becoming pregnant again quickly. Lactation inhibits ovulation
in some women, thus the practice has a rational basis. Poor women, especially those who suffered the stigma
of giving birth to an illegitimate child, sometimes had to give their baby up, temporarily or permanently, to a wet-nurse.
believed their collective origin to be from Romulus
and Remus
, who were breast-fed by the she-wolf, Lupa
, as seen in the famous Capitoline Wolf
. The Romans also believed that a baby who had a Greek
wet nurse would grow up speaking Greek
as well as Latin.The Bible refers to Deborah, a nurse to Rebekah wife of Isaac and mother of Israel, who appears to have lived as a member of the household all her days. (Genesis 35:8) Jewish mythology holds that the Egyptian
princess Batya
(whose place is occupied by Egypt
ian queen Asiya
in Islamic tradition) attempted to wet-nurse Moses
, but he would only take his biological mother's milk.
was wet-nursed by Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb. Islamic law or sharia
specifies a permanent family-like relationships (known as rada
) between children nursed by the same woman, i.e., who grew up together as youngsters. They and various specific relatives may not marry, that is, they are deemed mahram
.
in the time of Louis XIV, the early 17th century. It was commonplace in the British Isles
:
Jane Austen
mentions the practice in Emma. Women took in babies for money in Victorian Britain
, and nursed them themselves or fed them with whatever was cheapest. This was known as baby-farming
; poor care sometimes resulted in high infant death rates
. Dr Naomi Baumslag noted legendary wet-nurse Judith Waterford: "In 1831, on her 81st birthday, she could still produce breast milk. In her prime she unfailingly produced two quarts (four pints or 2.3 litres) of breast milk a day." Wet nurses were common for children of all social ranks in the southern United States
during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Steven Pinker
speculated that Sigmund Freud's
theories about the Oedipal complex were the result of Freud being raised by a wet-nurse, rather than his mother, because this dissociation from his mother would have prevented the Westermarck effect from taking hold. Wet nursing has sometimes been used with old or sick people who have trouble taking other nutrition. Following the widespread marketing and availability of artificial baby milk, or infant formula
, wet nursing went into decline after World War II
and fell out of style in the affluence of the mid-1950s. Wet nurses are considered no longer necessary in developed nations and, therefore, are no longer common.
and United Kingdom
. When a mother is unable to nurse her own infant, an acceptable mediated substitute is screened, pasteurized, expressed milk
(or especially colostrum
) donated to milk banks
, analogous to blood banks, a sort of bureaucratic wet-nurse. Dr Rhonda Shaw notes that Western objections to wet-nurses are cultural:
The subject of wet-nursing is becoming increasingly open for discussion. During a UNICEF goodwill trip to Sierra Leone
in 2008, Mexican actress Salma Hayek
decided to breast-feed a local infant in front of the accompanying film crew. The sick one-week-old baby had been born the same day but a year later than her daughter, who had not yet been weaned. Hayek later discussed on camera an anecdote of her Mexican great-grandmother spontaneously breast-feeding a hungry baby in a village.
Wet-nurses are still common in many developing countries
, although the practice poses a risk of infections such as HIV
. In China
, Indonesia
, and the Philippines
, a wet-nurse may be employed in addition to a nanny
as a mark of aristocracy, wealth, and high status. Additionally, a woman who wants to become pregnant may wet-nurse and rear a relative (especially a poorer one's) new-born as a mancing (Javanese language
for "lure
"). The mythology of Asia is full of such events. Following the 2008 Chinese milk scandal
, in which contaminated infant formula poisoned thousands of babies, the salaries of wet-nurses there increased dramatically The use of a wet-nurse is seen as a status symbol in some parts of modern China.
and fiction
, too numerous to list individually. Some include:
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...
and care for another's child. Wet nurses are used when the mother is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cultures the families are linked by a special relationship of milk kinship
Milk kinship
Milk kinship, formed during nursing by a non-biological mother, was a form of fostering allegiance with fellow community members. This particular form of kinship did not exclude particular groups, such that class and other hierarchal systems did not matter in terms of milk kinship...
. Mothers who nurse each other's babies are engaging in a reciprocal act known as cross-nursing or co-nursing.
Reasons
A wet nurse can be used if a baby's natural motherMother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
is unable or chooses not to breastfeed her infant. Before the development of baby formulas in the 20th century, when a natural mother was unable to breastfeed her baby, the baby's life was put in danger if a wet nurse was not available. There are many reasons why a mother is unable to lactate
Lactate
Lactate may refer to:*The act of lactation*The conjugate base of lactic acid...
or to produce sufficient breast milk. Reasons include the serious or chronic illness of the mother and her treatment which creates a temporary difficulty to nursing. Additionally, a mother's taking drugs (prescription or illegal) may necessitate a wet nurse if a drug in any way changes the content of the mother's milk. Some women choose not to breastfeed for social reasons and status.
Wet nurses have also been used when a mother cannot produce sufficient breast milk, i.e. the mother feels incapable of adequately nursing her child, especially following multiple birth
Multiple birth
A multiple birth occurs when more than one fetus is carried to term in a single pregnancy. Different names for multiple births are used, depending on the number of offspring. Common multiples are two and three, known as twins and triplets...
s. Wet nurses tend to be more common in places where the maternal mortality is high.
Eliciting milk
A woman can only act as a wet-nurse if she is lactating. It was once believed that a wet-nurse must have recently undergone childbirth. This is not necessarily true, as regular breast suckling can elicit lactation via a neural reflexReflex
A reflex action, also known as a reflex, is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus. A true reflex is a behavior which is mediated via the reflex arc; this does not apply to casual uses of the term 'reflex'.-See also:...
of prolactin
Prolactin
Prolactin also known as luteotropic hormone is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PRL gene.Prolactin is a peptide hormone discovered by Henry Friesen...
production and secretion. Some adoptive mothers have been able to establish lactation using a breast pump
Breast pump
A breast pump is a mechanical device that extracts milk from the breasts of a lactating woman. Breast pumps may be manual devices powered by hand or foot movements or electrical devices powered by mains electricity or batteries.- History :...
so that they could feed an adopted infant.
Dr Gabrielle Palmer states:
Practice across cultures
The practice of using wet nurses is ancient and common to many cultures. It has been linked to social classSocial class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
, where monarchies
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
, the aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
, nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
or upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
es had their children wet-nursed in the hope of becoming pregnant again quickly. Lactation inhibits ovulation
Ovulation
Ovulation is the process in a female's menstrual cycle by which a mature ovarian follicle ruptures and discharges an ovum . Ovulation also occurs in the estrous cycle of other female mammals, which differs in many fundamental ways from the menstrual cycle...
in some women, thus the practice has a rational basis. Poor women, especially those who suffered the stigma
Social stigma
Social stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...
of giving birth to an illegitimate child, sometimes had to give their baby up, temporarily or permanently, to a wet-nurse.
Ancient history
Many cultures feature myths involving superhuman, supernatural, human and in some instances animal wet-nurses. The ancient RomansRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
believed their collective origin to be from Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
and Remus
Remus
Remus is the twin brother of the mythical founder of Rome.Remus may also refer to:* Remus , a fictional planet in Star Trek* Remus , a moon of the asteroid 87 Sylvia...
, who were breast-fed by the she-wolf, Lupa
Lupa
Lupa can refer to:* a female wolf * the wolf in the story of Romulus and Remus, or the Lupa Capitolina , a bronze statue representing the wolf...
, as seen in the famous Capitoline Wolf
Capitoline Wolf
The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture of a she-wolf suckling twin infants, inspired by the legend of the founding of Rome. According to the legend, when Numitor, grandfather of the twins Romulus and Remus, was overthrown by his brother Amulius, the usurper ordered the twins to be cast into...
. The Romans also believed that a baby who had a Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
wet nurse would grow up speaking Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
as well as Latin.The Bible refers to Deborah, a nurse to Rebekah wife of Isaac and mother of Israel, who appears to have lived as a member of the household all her days. (Genesis 35:8) Jewish mythology holds that the Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
princess Batya
Bátya
-Famous people:* Endre Pászthory * Károly László * Dr. Zoltán Fehér * Teri Harangozó -Demographics:Existing ethnicities: Magyars Croats...
(whose place is occupied by Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian queen Asiya
Asiya
Asiya, wife of the Pharaoh , also known as Asiya bint Muzahim, is revered by Muslims as one of the greatest women of all time. She was the wife of "Fir'awn," the Pharaoh who reigned during Moses's time...
in Islamic tradition) attempted to wet-nurse Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, but he would only take his biological mother's milk.
Islamic culture
The Islamic prophet MuhammadMuhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
was wet-nursed by Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb. Islamic law or sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
specifies a permanent family-like relationships (known as rada
Rada (fiqh)
Radāʿ or ridāʿa is a technical term from Islamic jurisprudence meaning "the suckling which produces the legal impediment to marriage of foster-kinship". The term derives from the infinitive noun of the Arabic word radiʿa or radaʿa...
) between children nursed by the same woman, i.e., who grew up together as youngsters. They and various specific relatives may not marry, that is, they are deemed mahram
Mahram
In Islamic sharia legal terminology, a mahram is an unmarriageable kin with whom sexual intercourse would be considered incestuous, a punishable taboo...
.
Renaissance to twentieth century
Wet nursing was reported in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the time of Louis XIV, the early 17th century. It was commonplace in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
:
Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
mentions the practice in Emma. Women took in babies for money in Victorian Britain
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, and nursed them themselves or fed them with whatever was cheapest. This was known as baby-farming
Baby-farming
Baby farming was a term used in late-Victorian Era Britain to mean the taking in of an infant or child for payment; if the infant was young, this usually included wet-nursing . Some baby farmers "adopted" children for lump-sum payments, while others cared for infants for periodic payments...
; poor care sometimes resulted in high infant death rates
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
. Dr Naomi Baumslag noted legendary wet-nurse Judith Waterford: "In 1831, on her 81st birthday, she could still produce breast milk. In her prime she unfailingly produced two quarts (four pints or 2.3 litres) of breast milk a day." Wet nurses were common for children of all social ranks in the southern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
speculated that Sigmund Freud's
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
theories about the Oedipal complex were the result of Freud being raised by a wet-nurse, rather than his mother, because this dissociation from his mother would have prevented the Westermarck effect from taking hold. Wet nursing has sometimes been used with old or sick people who have trouble taking other nutrition. Following the widespread marketing and availability of artificial baby milk, or infant formula
Infant formula
Infant formula is a manufactured food designed and marketed for feeding to babies and infants under 12 months of age, usually prepared for bottle-feeding or cup-feeding from powder or liquid . The U.S...
, wet nursing went into decline after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and fell out of style in the affluence of the mid-1950s. Wet nurses are considered no longer necessary in developed nations and, therefore, are no longer common.
Current attitudes in developed countries
In contemporary affluent Western societies particularly affected by the successful marketing of infant formula, the act of nursing a baby other than one's own often provokes cultural squeamishness, notably in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. When a mother is unable to nurse her own infant, an acceptable mediated substitute is screened, pasteurized, expressed milk
Breast pump
A breast pump is a mechanical device that extracts milk from the breasts of a lactating woman. Breast pumps may be manual devices powered by hand or foot movements or electrical devices powered by mains electricity or batteries.- History :...
(or especially colostrum
Colostrum
Colostrum is a form of milk produced by the mammary glands of mammals in late pregnancy. Most species will generate colostrum just prior to giving birth...
) donated to milk banks
Human Milk Banking In North America
A human milk bank is "a service which collects, screens, processes, and dispenses by prescription human milk donated by nursing mothers who are not biologically related to the recipient infant". There are currently eleven milk banks in North America. They are usually housed in hospitals, although...
, analogous to blood banks, a sort of bureaucratic wet-nurse. Dr Rhonda Shaw notes that Western objections to wet-nurses are cultural:
The subject of wet-nursing is becoming increasingly open for discussion. During a UNICEF goodwill trip to Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
in 2008, Mexican actress Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault is a Mexican film actress, director and producer. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film Frida.-Early life:...
decided to breast-feed a local infant in front of the accompanying film crew. The sick one-week-old baby had been born the same day but a year later than her daughter, who had not yet been weaned. Hayek later discussed on camera an anecdote of her Mexican great-grandmother spontaneously breast-feeding a hungry baby in a village.
Wet-nurses are still common in many developing countries
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
, although the practice poses a risk of infections such as HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
. In China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, a wet-nurse may be employed in addition to a nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
as a mark of aristocracy, wealth, and high status. Additionally, a woman who wants to become pregnant may wet-nurse and rear a relative (especially a poorer one's) new-born as a mancing (Javanese language
Javanese language
Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...
for "lure
Lure
Lure can refer to:* Lure * Lure coursing, a sport for dogs that involves chasing a mechanically operated lure* Fishing lure* Lur, an instrument found in northern Europe* Lure, Haute-Saône, a commune of the Haute-Saône département, in France...
"). The mythology of Asia is full of such events. Following the 2008 Chinese milk scandal
2008 Chinese milk scandal
The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in the People's Republic of China, involving milk and infant formula, and other food materials and components, adulterated with melamine....
, in which contaminated infant formula poisoned thousands of babies, the salaries of wet-nurses there increased dramatically The use of a wet-nurse is seen as a status symbol in some parts of modern China.
Fiction
Wet-nursing is a prominent theme throughout human mythologyMythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
, too numerous to list individually. Some include:
- In William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
the character NurseNurse (Romeo and Juliet)The Nurse is a major character in William Shakespeare's classic drama Romeo and Juliet. It is revealed later in the play by Lord Capulet that the Nurse's real name might be Angelica . She is the personal servant, guardian of Juliet Capulet, and has been since Juliet was born...
had been Juliet's wet nurse. "Were not I thine only nurse, I would say thou hadst sucked wisdom from thy teat." 1.3.72 - In Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's War and PeaceWar and PeaceWar and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
, the character Natasha Rostov, after changing wet nurses three times, elected to nurse her children herself despite opposition from her husband, mother, and doctors. - In George MooreGeorge Moore (novelist)George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s...
's novel Esther WatersEsther WatersEsther Waters is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894.-Introduction:Set in England from the early 1870s onward, the novel is about a young, pious woman from a poor working class family who, while working as a kitchen maid, is seduced by another employee, becomes pregnant, is deserted by...
, the eponymous heroine works as a wet nurse after the birth of her son while leaving him in the hands of a baby farmer. - In John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's novel The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
, set in a time of great poverty, a woman whose baby has just died, and consequently whose breasts are engorged with milk, wet-nurses a man at the point of death, as no other nourishment is available, a reference to Roman CharityRoman CharityRoman Charity is the exemplary story of a daughter, Pero, who secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation...
. - In Kenji MizoguchiKenji MizoguchiKenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...
's film The Story of the Last ChrysanthemumsThe Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, 1939) is a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.The film is regarded as one of Mizoguchi's greatest pre-war achievements. Especially notable is Mizoguchi's now mature mise-en-scène compositions and extreme long takes.-Synopsis:...
, a wet nurse by the name of Otuko is dismissed by a prominent actor's family for telling their adoptive son that he needs to practice more in order to become a good actor. This flies in the face of the insincere flattery he is given by those who pay him lip service in order to ingratiate themselves with his father's family. Given the prospect of her dismissal, she unsuccessfully pleads for the sake of the child she nurses who will have separation anxiety as a result of her departure. - In the movie SpartacusSpartacus (film)Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
, CrassusMarcus Licinius CrassusMarcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar and entered into the political alliance known as the...
captures SpartacusSpartacusSpartacus was a famous leader of the slaves in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable...
's wife and baby. Since he wants Varinia as a concubine, he purchases a wet nurse for her baby. Varinia rejects his offer, saying, "I sent her away: I prefer to nurse the child myself." - In BlackadderBlackadderBlackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
II, NursieNursieNursie is a fictional character in the second series of the popular BBC sitcom Blackadder II. She was played by Patsy Byrne and appeared in all six episodes. She also appeared in two of the Blackadder specials; Blackadder's Christmas Carol and Blackadder: Back & Forth...
, the Queen's childhood nurse, is commonly perceived as being a perpetual wet nurse: “In the old days, it was all difficult choices. Should you have Nursie-milk or moo-cow milk? Of course, it was always Nursie milk….” - In Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll, Elizabeth Darcy hires a wet nurse, Mrs. Littlepage, for her and Darcy's twins. Owing to the multiple birth, Lizzy and Mrs. Littlepage must share the role, much to the consternation of Mrs. Bennet, who finds it unseemly that Lizzy breastfeeds her children.
- In SamiaSamia (play)Samia, translated as The Girl From Samos, or The Marriage Connection, is an Ancient Greek comedy by Menander, it is the second most extant play with up to 116 lines missing compared to Dyskolos’s 39. The date of its first performance is unknown, with 315 B.C. and 309 B.C. being two suggested dates...
by MenanderMenanderMenander , Greek dramatist, the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy, was the son of well-to-do parents; his father Diopeithes is identified by some with the Athenian general and governor of the Thracian Chersonese known from the speech of Demosthenes De Chersoneso...
the woman of the title loses her baby and wet-nurses the result of a one night stand between her partners adopted son and a girl he fancied. She pretends it is her own actually dead child but the truth is revealed when the real mother fills in for the wet nurse and her father sees her. - In the 2007 action film Shoot 'Em UpShoot 'em upShoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
, Smith, the main character, rescues a newborn child while trying to save its mother. However, he succeeds in saving the child instead. Seeing as the birth mother is dead, he gets a lactating prostitute, Donna, to temporarily take care of the baby. - In the 1992 film IndochineIndochine (film)Indochine is a 1992 French film set in colonial French Indochina during the 1930s. It is the story of Éliane Devries, a French plantation owner, and of her adopted Vietnamese daughter, Camille, with the rising Vietnamese nationalist movement set as a backdrop...
after the French capture Jean-Baptiste with his infant son, various local village women nurse the child as they make their way back to Saigon.
See also
- Roman CharityRoman CharityRoman Charity is the exemplary story of a daughter, Pero, who secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation...
, works of art based on the story of a daughter feeding her dying father. - MilkmaidMilkmaidA milkmaid is a girl or woman employed to milk dairy cows. She also used the milk to prepare dairy products such as cream, butter, and cheese...
- Mrs. PackMrs. PackMrs. Pack was a wet nurse to the child William, Duke of Gloucester ; she was believed indispensable to the boy's health, and because of that, came to exercise considerable control over the household of his mother, the future Anne of the United Kingdom...
, a wet nurse to the child William, Duke of GloucesterWilliam, Duke of GloucesterPrince William, Duke of Gloucester was the son of Princess Anne, who ascended the British thrones in 1702, and her husband, Prince George of Denmark and Norway. Styled Duke of Gloucester, he was their only child to survive infancy...
(1689–1700). - Milk kinshipMilk kinshipMilk kinship, formed during nursing by a non-biological mother, was a form of fostering allegiance with fellow community members. This particular form of kinship did not exclude particular groups, such that class and other hierarchal systems did not matter in terms of milk kinship...