Mothers and Medicine: Social History of Infant Feeding, 1890-1950: 7 (Wisconsin Publications in the History of Science and Medicine) - Softcover

"Apple's "Mothers and Medicine" is a fascinating sociohistorical documentation of infant feeding practices, of the mother's role in the creation of information and hospital support systems, and the development of pediatrics as a medical specialty."--"Choice Magazine" "Apple's book is an important contribution to the social history of American medicine. It will be invaluable, however, not only to historians of medicine, but to others interested in the historical relationships between physicians, infants, and their parents."--Susan E. Lederer, "The History of Medicine" "The strength of Apple's book is her ability to indicate how the mutual interests of mothers, doctors, and manufacturers led to the transformation of infant feeding. . . . Historians of science will be impressed with the way she probes the connections between the medical profession and the manufacturers and with her ability to demonstrate how medical theories were translated into medical practice."--Janet Golden, "Isis"

In the nineteenth century infants were commonly breast-fed; yet by the middle of the twentieth century, women typically bottle-fed their babies on the advice of their doctors. Rima D. Apple analyzes the complex interactions of science, medicine, economics, and culture that underlie this dramatic shift in infant-care practices. As infant feeding became the keystone of the emerging specialty of pediatrics, the manufacture of infant food became a lucrative industry. More and more mothers reported difficulty in nursing their babies. This book clarifies the complex and contradictory interaction between women and the medical profession in America.