I was reading Augustine today, and struck by the vignette of thanking God for feeding him through ‘filling the breasts’ his mother with milk. Viewing this as a miracle got me thinking, what did mothers do when they struggled to latch onto their baby, or couldn’t produce enough milk? Was there some sort of commonly used food? Did they ask other women, or use wet nurses? And if they could not afford to do so or were geographically isolated, what happened? Also, did mothers breastfeed for shorter periods in times past?
Much more can be said, but this answer might be interesting In older days let's say before infant formula was invented how did lower class/poor families tend to/feed newborns in circumstances where the birth mother died during labor and couldn't afford/ get a wet nurse. written by u/mimicofmodes
/u/amifufu has previously answered Before we had things like Formula, how did infants whose mother died in childbirth get the necessary nutrients that are in breastmilk?
/u/Superplaner has previously answered Before specially made baby food, how did the people of your era feed their babies?
More answers remain to be written on this very popular topic, especially about places outside of Europe. Someone asked about this last month.