What Did Babies Drink Before Formula
The question of what babies drank before formula was invented opens a fascinating and often overlooked chapter of human history. This journey takes us back through centuries of innovation, desperation, and adaptation, from the ancient practice of wet nursing to the risky introduction of animal milks and cereal gruels. Infants ate soft or liquid foods made from animal milk, broth, or grains. In the 17th and 18th centuries, these foods were homemade; By the late 19th century, industrially produced options became.
This method, while it may seem shocking to us today, was often used for practical reasons. Eventually, enterprising chemists decided to try to more closely mimic human breast milk, and in 1865 justus von liebig created what's believed to be the world's first infant formula. It was made of wheat, cow's milk, malt flour and potassium bicarbonate. In the times before the invention of infant formula, the feeding of babies relied heavily on natural sources. For centuries, mothers nursed their infants directly, relying on breast milk as the primary food source. The historical evolution of infant feeding includes wet nursing, the feeding bottle, and formula use. Before the invention of bottles and formula, wet nursing was the safest and most common alternative to the natural mother's breastmilk. Before formula, babies were primarily fed breast milk or animal milk, supplemented by various traditional foods depending on culture and era.
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