Hi folks,

For anyone interested in the subject of Interspecies Nursing, there are two
great illustrations (worth a thousand words each) in "Milk, Money & Madness."
One is of a human baby nursing a goat (pg. 58), the other of a woman from New
Guinea with a human infant nursing one breast, a piglet being fattened for a
feast on the other (pg. 60 -- this picture always gets comments!).   I've posted
a bit of the text below for your amusement.

        "Not only have animals been used to feed humans, but humans have, and
still do, feed animals (Fig. 2.7).  Animals have been nursed by women for a
variety of reasons, including to aid destitute animals; to relieve engorged
breasts; to prevent conception; to promote lactation; and to develop "good
nipples" -- to name a few.  Ancient Romans and Persians put animals to the
breast; the custom is still reported among Neapolitans and roving gypsies of
Transylvania, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Sumatra, Thailand, Japan and
South America.  Travelers have observed women in British Guinea nursing not only
their children of different ages, but also their four footed brethren, just as
obligingly and with equal tenderness.  In parts of Africa, such as the
Cameroon's, in New Guinea, and among Amazon Indians, some women suckle domestic
puppies and piglets.  This evidently was also practiced in Canada, where Indian
women often suckled young dogs and Puma Indians, and reportedly withdrew their
breasts sooner from their own infants than from their puppies.

        "In Persia and Turkey, young dogs were put to the breasts to toughen the
nipples and make them better for the infant to suck.  Wet nurses in Turkey used
suckling puppies to maintain their milk supply if they had to travel by sea from
distant villages to the capital.  In Dauphine, France, where children were
nursed 2? - 3 years to help prevent another pregnancy, if the child died too
soon, a another child or a puppy was used as a replacement.  It has even been
reported (by Friedrick Osiandor, in 1799) that young dogs were suckled by women
in Gollinger to disperse obstinate breast nodules.  In America, Davies (the
first American pediatrician) recommended regular application of a strong puppy,
from the seventh month of pregnancy, to harden and conform the nipples, improve
breast secretion, and prevent inflammation.  He advised:
The puppy's suckling efforts if started early enough prepared the nipples for
future assaults of the child."


From "Milk, Money & Madness: the culture and politics of breastfeeding," by
Naomi Baumslag, MD and Dia L. Michels.

- Dia

Dia L. Michels                          202-547-3598
532 9th Street, SE                              202-546-2356-fax
Washington, DC  20003                   [log in to unmask]