Portuguese Experiences of Artificial Infant Feeding in the Late Eighteenth Century

Abstract

Infant feeding is an explanatory factor of infant mortality levels in historical populations. The bacteriological revolution in the early 1870s changed medical science and technologies in terms of food production and ways in which infant populations were fed. Even before that change, however, connections between food and child health were being discussed in both the medical literature and political institutions. How foundlings were fed was a crucial issue in pre-industrial Europe. At that time, increasing foundling numbers and difficulties in providing wet nursing, due to the shortage of suitable women and financial constraints, forced the authorities to take action to keep infant mortality levels under control. This article shows evidence of dry nursing strategies and practices in Portugal in the late eighteenth century. It explores the relationship between political and healthcare institutions, medical knowledge and the living conditions of the infant population and, more specifically, discusses the use of artificial feeding in Portugal and the intervention of authorities such as the Intendant-General of Police, Diogo Inácio de Pina Manique, and his experiments with animal milk.