This is an interesting excerpt from a nearly 100 year old textbook, The Home and Its Managment by Mabel Hyde Kitteredge. I find the statistics between breastfed and bottlefed babies. The formula would be perscribed at "milk stations" where the baby would be weighed and the mixture of milk, barley water, etc would be given.
2. In the city of New York during 1912, 3392 babies under one year of age died from bowel trouble, and nine out of every ten of these babies were bottle-fed.
3. Mother's milk is the only safe food for a baby during the first six months of its life.
4. Cow's milk or prepared food can never equal breast milk as the proper food for the baby.
5. Breast fed babies rarely have bowel trouble. Bottlefed babies rarely escape it, particularly during warm weather.
6. Babies fed on breast milk show the best development; the teeth will appear at the proper time; the muscles and bones will be stronger, and walking will not be delayed.
7. A breast-fed baby is not so likely to have bronchitis or croup, and if attacked by any disease, has a much better chance of living than a bottle-fed baby.
8. Pneumonia in babies is fatal more often in bottlefed babies than in breast-fed babies.
So then, from this we conclude that it was a well-known fact that breast-fed babies had superior health to their bottle-fed counterparts. When did all this change so that it was seen as freakish to naturally feed a baby?
These are a few of the reasons given by the Board of Health in New York City on the subject" Why a Mother should nurse her Baby."1. One death out of every five which occur at all ages is that of a baby under one year of age, and the greatest number of these deaths is among bottle-fed babies.
2. In the city of New York during 1912, 3392 babies under one year of age died from bowel trouble, and nine out of every ten of these babies were bottle-fed.
3. Mother's milk is the only safe food for a baby during the first six months of its life.
4. Cow's milk or prepared food can never equal breast milk as the proper food for the baby.
5. Breast fed babies rarely have bowel trouble. Bottlefed babies rarely escape it, particularly during warm weather.
6. Babies fed on breast milk show the best development; the teeth will appear at the proper time; the muscles and bones will be stronger, and walking will not be delayed.
7. A breast-fed baby is not so likely to have bronchitis or croup, and if attacked by any disease, has a much better chance of living than a bottle-fed baby.
8. Pneumonia in babies is fatal more often in bottlefed babies than in breast-fed babies.
