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A wet nurse is a woman who breast feeds a baby that is not her own. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Diverse women. ... Suckling redirects here. ... The term baby can refer to: an infant a very early computer—the Small-Scale Experimental Machine, nicknamed Baby a musician – Brian Williams – who performs under the name Baby. ...

Reasons for use

A wet nurse may be employed if the mother of a baby is unable to breast-feed her infant for reasons such as: Mom and Mommy redirect here. ...

• drug use (prescription or illegal)
• illness
• death
• breast cancer
• insufficient production of breast milk (though see below).
• unwillingness

Wet nurses have also been required following multiple births where the mother feels incapable of adequately nursing all of the children herself. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A medical prescription ) is an order (often in written form) by a qualified health care professional to a pharmacist or other therapist for a treatment to be provided to their patient. ... Retail selling Street selling is the bottom of the chain and can be accomplished through purchasing from prostitutes, through cloaked retail stores or refuse houses for users in the act located in red-light districts which often also deal in paraphernalia, dealers marketing merriment at night clubs and other events... Quadruplet, quintuplet, etc. ...

Some wet nurses also serve as a midwife during childbirth. // Midwifery is the term traditionally used to describe the art of assisting a woman through childbirth. ... Parturition redirects here. ...

Eliciting milk

A woman can only serve as a wet nurse when she is lactating. It is often thought that this means the wet nurse must have recently given birth to a child of her own. This may be the case, but not necessarily, since regular suckling on a woman's breast can elicit the production of milk by a neural reflex.(E. Goljan, Pathology, 2nd ed. Mosby Elsevier, Rapid Review Series.) A breastfeeding infant Breastfeeding is the practice of a woman feeding an infant (or sometimes a toddler or a young child) with milk produced from her mammary glands, usually directly from the nipples. ...

Historical use

The practice of using wet nurses is ancient and found in many cultures. Sometimes it is linked to social class. Members of property-owning classes had their children wet-nursed, in the hope of becoming pregnant again quickly to ensure an heir. (Lactation can suppress ovulation.) Poor women, especially those who suffered the stigma of giving birth to an illegitimate child, sometimes had to give their baby up, temporarily or permanently, and a wet nurse would look after it. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ... For other uses, see inheritance (disambiguation). ... Ovulation is the process in the menstrual cycle by which a mature ovarian follicle ruptures and discharges an ovum (also known as an oocyte, female gamete, or casually, an egg) that participates in reproduction. ... Look up stigma in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Illegitimacy is the status that was once commonly ascribed to individuals born to parents who were not married. ...

One myth holds that the Egyptian princess Bathiah tried giving baby Moses to wet nurses, but he would not take their milk, for he was destined to speak with the Shekhinah. Moses with the Tablets, 1659, by Rembrandt This article is about the Biblical figure. ... Shekhinah (- alternative transliterations Shekinah, Shechinah, Shekina, Shechina, Schechinah, שכינה) is the English spelling of a feminine Hebrew language word that means the dwelling or settling, and is used to denote the dwelling or settling presence of God, especially in the Temple in Jerusalem. ...

According to Islam, the prophet Muhammad, was wet-nursed by a woman named Halimah bint Abdullah (more commonly known as Halimah As-Sa'diyah). In the culture of Arabia at that time, children who were nursed by the same woman, i.e. who grew up together as youngsters, were known as milk-siblings. For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... Muhammad in a new genre of Islamic calligraphy started in the 17th century by Hafiz Osman. ... Halimah or Halimah as-Sadiyyah, daughter of Abdullah ibn al-Harith ibn Shijnah as-Sadiyyah of the (tribe of) Bana Sad ibn Hawazin nursed Muhammad until he reached the age of weaning. ... The Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula is a mainly desert peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia and an important part of the greater Middle East. ...

Napoleon was wet-nursed when he was a child by a woman called Camilla. For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ...

Wet nursing was reported in France in the time of Louis XIV, the early 17th century. Louis XIV King of France and Navarre By Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638–September 1, 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...

Wet nurses were common for children of all social ranks in the southern United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Women took in babies for money in Victorian Britain, and nursed them themselves or fed them with whatever was cheapest. This was known as baby-farming; poor care sometimes resulted in high infant death rates. Baby-farming was a term used in Victorian England to mean the taking in of an infant for a small payment, with an understanding that nursing care would be provided; improper treatment was usually implied. ...

Wet nursing has sometimes been used with old or sick people who have trouble taking other nutrition. John Jacob Astor and John D. Rockefeller reportedly hired wet nurses for their own use in their old age. [1] John Jacob Astor, detail of an oil painting by Gilbert Stuart, 1794 John Jacob (originally either Johann Jakob or Johann Jacob) Astor (July 17, 1763 - March 29, 1848) was the first of the Astor family dynasty and the first millionaire in the United States, the creator of the first Trust... John Davison Rockefeller, Sr. ...

Sigmund Freud's theories about the Oedipal complex are speculated to have been the result of his being raised by a wet-nurse, rather than his mother. This dissociation from his mother prevented the Westermarck effect from taking hold. Sigmund Freud (IPA: ), born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... The Oedipus complex is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud, who was inspired by Carl Jung (he described the concept and coined the term Complex), to explain the maturation of the infant through identification with the father and desire for the mother. ... Imprinting is the term used in psychology and ethology to describe any kind of phase-sensitive learning (learning occurring at a particular age or a particular life stage) that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior. ...

Current use

Through the widespread availability of infant formula, wet nurses are no longer necessary in developed nations and, therefore, are not common. Another substitute is expressed milk (or especially colostrum) donated to milk banks, analogous to blood banks. The use of a wet nurse is still a common practice in many developing countries. An infant being fed by bottle. ... A developed country is a country that has achieved (currently or historically) a high degree of industrialization, and which enjoys the higher standards of living which wealth and technology make possible. ... Not to be confused with claustrum. ... According to a joint statement of WHO and UNICEF The best food for a baby who cannot be breastfed is milk expressed from the mother’s breast or from another healthy mother….The best food for any baby whose own mother’s milk is not available is the breastmilk of... A blood bank is a cache or bank of blood or blood components, gathered as a result of blood donation, stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusions. ...  Newly industrialized countries  Other emerging markets  Other developing economies  High income  Upper-middle income  Lower-middle income  Low income A developing country is that country which has a relatively low standard of living, an undeveloped industrial base, and a moderate to low Human Development Index (HDI) score and per capita...

Examples in fiction

• In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet the character Nurse is Juliet's wet nurse. "Were not I thine only nurse, I would say thou hadst sucked wisdom from thy teat." 1.3.72
• In George Moore's novel Esther Waters, the eponymous heroine works as a wet nurse after the birth of her son while leaving him in the hands of a baby farmer.
• In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, set in a time of great poverty, a woman whose baby has just died, and consequently whose breasts are engorged with milk, wet-nurses a man at the point of death, as no other nourishment is available.
• In the movie Spartacus, Crassus captures Spartacus's wife and baby. Since he wants Varinia as a concubine, he purchases a wet nurse for her baby. Varinia rejects his offer, saying, "I sent her away: I prefer to nurse the child myself."
• In Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, the fresh-out-of-college government agent sent to spy on Hank Rearden's accounting is commonly referred to as "the wet nurse."
• In Blackadder II, Nursie, Queenie's childhood nurse, is commonly perceived as being a wet nurse: “In the old days, it was all difficult choices. Should you have Nursie milk or moo-cow milk? Of course, it was always Nursie milk….”

Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see Romeo and Juliet (disambiguation). ... A portrait of George Moore by Édouard Manet George Augustus Moore (February 24, 1852 - January 21, 1933) was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. ... Esther Waters is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894. ... Baby-farming was a term used in Victorian England to mean the taking in of an infant for a small payment, with an understanding that nursing care would be provided; improper treatment was usually implied. ... For other members of the family, see Steinbeck (disambiguation). ... This article is about the novel. ... Spartacus is a 1960 film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast about the historical life of Spartacus and the Third Servile War. ... Marcus Licinius Crassus (Latin: M·LICINIVS·P·F·P·N·CRASSVS[1]) (c. ... This article is about the historical figure. ... A swampy marsh area ... Ayn Rand (IPA: , February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982), born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum (Russian: ), was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher. ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... Characters in Ayn Rands novel, Atlas Shrugged. ... For other uses, see Blackadder (disambiguation). ... Patsy Byrne as the character Nursie on Blackadder. ...

See also

• Roman Charity, works of art based on the story of a daughter feeding her dying father
• Milkmaid

Roman Charity (or Carità Romana) is the story of a daughter, Pero, who secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation. ... A milkmaid is historically a woman, usually young, who milked cows and supplied milk. ...

External links

• Guardian Unlimited: Not your mother's milk