History of breastfeeding in Russia

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

From the history of breastfeeding in the old days, one can understand where exactly these or those widespread myths and misconceptions came from. Breastfeeding is essentially a very simple natural process, but it has always been significantly influenced by the attitudes of society.

To understand what exactly is needed for successful breastfeeding, it is enough to imagine how this happened in nature thousands of years ago.

How could a woman behave with a baby? The infant's survival depends on whether the mother can breastfeed. There are no artificial mixtures, and there is not enough pure water to give it to a child. Even screaming too loudly can attract unwanted attention. Therefore, the mother carries the baby with her and breastfeeds him on demand - and only by breastfeeding, until the baby himself begins to show interest in other foods.

The main obstacle to successful feeding has always been the belief that a woman has more important things to do than motherhood. Sometimes it was a woman's free choice, more often it was a social necessity

So, in pre-revolutionary Russia, in the upper classes, breastfeeding was not widespread - it was considered good form to give the baby to a wet nurse, and "chest fever" due to breast pulling shortly after childbirth claimed many lives of women from high society. Many studies today have proven that breast tightening means a very high risk of mastitis, which in the absence of antibiotics was literally a killer practice. Nevertheless, this model of termination of "unnecessary" lactation remains popular to this day, being passed down from generation to generation …

In the merchant and peasant environment, it was customary to feed children for a long time, since everyone was well aware that breastfeeding makes a child healthier and increases his chances of survival. Usually, the principle of "three long fasts" was used for breastfeeding - that is, the mother fed two Great Lasts and one Uspensky, or two Uspensky and one Bolshoi, on average from one and a half to two years.

In the summer, when infant mortality became especially high due to intestinal infections, even a grown child was not weaned from the breast. But in the peasant environment, due to the need for constant work outside the home, exclusive breastfeeding was difficult, and the consequence was the highest mortality, which outraged all specialists in child health.

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Of course, the customs varied greatly depending on the conditions of life in a particular place. Some localities have had traditions of caring for babies that will terrify most modern mothers. As an example: a newborn child was wrapped in diapers, placed in a cradle with a specially cut hole "for drainage", a cow's horn with a cut end was inserted into his mouth, into which was filled with rye bread soaked in sweet water, and … they went to work all day until evening … At the same time, washing the "bottle" for a new portion of "chewing gum" was considered completely unnecessary …

Traditions of this kind created enormous infant mortality in pre-revolutionary Russia. So, N. A. Russkikh in 1987 gave the following figures:

… the mortality rate is especially terrible before the age of 1 year, and in some parts of Russia this mortality rate reaches such figures that far less than half of 1000 born children live up to a year … If we add to this the mortality rate of older children, 1–5 years old, then from 5–10 years old and from 10–15 years old, we will see that out of 1000 born children, a very small number of children will survive to 15 years old, and this number in many places in Russia does not exceed one quarter of those born.

Alas, since for a long time it was impossible to change the general way of life of the lower strata of society, the attitude towards infant mortality was fatalistic: "A child is destined to live, it will survive, but no, nothing can be done about it."Today we see echoes of this fatalistic approach in the very widespread belief "If there is milk, I will feed it, and if I am not lucky, nothing can be done about it, this is the fate." without any attempt to bring feeding closer to the needs of the baby and not the interests of the mother.

And at the same time, it turned out that, regardless of the locality and social stratum, most often it was possible to successfully feed healthy children if certain principles were observed. Namely: compliance with basic hygiene, feeding on demand, late start of complementary feeding, timely response to baby signals, etc.

In the 1920s, one of the significant editions was "The Mother's Book (How to Raise a Healthy and Strong Child and Maintain Your Health)", the goal of which was "to become a school for mothers for thousands and thousands of women."

Pregnancy and childcare were seen in her as a kind of work, productive activity for the benefit of Soviet society.

Her main thought was that infant mortality is surmountable if simple rules are followed - breastfeeding for at least a year, free swaddling, access to fresh air, cleanliness of the baby's body and environment.

In the popular brochure "Mother's ABC" it was written: "Feed until the child is full: he sucks and falls asleep, but he fell asleep, gently suck it from the breast and put it in a basket."

Alas, even the active education of mothers could not quickly change the views that have developed over the centuries. Few people readily accepted the new information, most women believed that what suited their mothers and grandmothers would suit them. In the same way, today we often hear: "We ourselves grew up and raised our children on mixtures or cow's milk, and everything is fine with us, we do not need these newfangled trends!"

In fact, the current "newfangled trends" in the literal sense of the word represent a well-forgotten old. You can simply quote a 1940 poster with the funny slogan "Our children should not get diarrhea!":

“Feed your baby up to six months only with breast milk.

From six months, start complementary foods as directed by your doctor.

Don't wean your baby in summer.

Dress your child in lightweight clothing during the summer.

Thoroughly wash your baby's dishes and toys, and wash your hands.

Protect the baby and his food from flies."

There is not a single requirement here that could be called outdated!

Or take an even older poster - 1927. Poor care, dirty maintenance, dark room, stuffy stale air, feeding with cow's milk, chewed nipple and early feeding with porridge (up to 6 months) are named as pitfalls that prevent a child from swimming out on life's journey.

How did it come about that childcare changed so much over the next decades?

The point was, firstly, that the infant mortality rate, although it fell, but due to the fact that many women did not accept innovations in childcare, continued to remain high: at the end of the 30s, 170 deaths of children under one year old per 1000 births.

At the same time, the human losses of the newly formed USSR were terrible: first the First World War, then the revolution, civil war, famine, finally repression … Such losses were simply unacceptable.

And then the medicalization of such natural processes as pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding began. Strict, constant medical supervision. The best conditions for motherhood are considered to be the conditions of a hospital ward, complete sterility and scheduled procedures under medical supervision.

They loved to draw flowers and the happiness of women in labor on postcards. In reality, everything was completely different …

It was suggested to look at the newborn "as on a surgical patient who has undergone an operation." In the pre-war time, there are recommendations for feeding the child strictly according to the regime, so as not to leave him hungry; washing hands and breasts with soap, wearing special clean clothes (dressing gown and kerchief), and if the mother has a cold, then also a gauze bandage.

On a poster from 1957, a nursing mother is offered to use masks of 6 layers of gauze for the slightest cough or runny nose …

At the same time, it was expected that the mother would continue to work, for which the family's day was regulated in general, breaks were introduced at the enterprises for feeding children and it was proposed to organize a "special maternal conveyor" so that the work of the enterprise would not be disrupted.

Later, this phenomenon will be called a “double burden”: until the end of the Soviet regime, the ideal of a woman in the state ideology was the one who does not avoid childbearing, who runs a household and at the same time works full time outside the home.

The Second World War further exacerbated this situation.

In the 40s and in the following decade, women were the main labor force: it was necessary to rebuild a country devastated by war, deprived of men.

Medical advice has changed so that a woman can send her baby to a nursery and go to work a few weeks after the baby is born.

Feeding according to the regimen was finally established - this is how it was more convenient to feed the children, first in maternity hospitals, and then in a nursery.

It is believed that the child "must sleep" at night, because a working woman will be too overwhelmed, getting up for night feedings - and the woman is explained that it is right to simply ignore the crying child, because "the stomach must rest." And after several nights spent in fruitless crying, the baby realizes that it is pointless to call his mother.

At the same time, women are taught to express both breasts "dry" after each feeding - this was necessary in order to somehow support lactation, since six feedings a day, taking into account the night break, is not enough for this, and the milk "leaves" too quickly.

Formula feeding is gaining momentum …

In the fifties, the widespread use of artificial mixtures contributed to its share. Many mothers, forced to combine heavy work with feeding (burdened by constant expression and frequent mastitis due to the inability to feed the baby when the breast is full), the appearance of the formula was perceived as a great relief.

However, the mixtures were very imperfect in composition, they lacked many necessary nutrients for children, and children brought up on mixtures often had vitamin deficiencies, rickets, anemia and other unpleasant diseases. In this regard, there was a shift in the beginning of complementary feeding - at six months, the child, if he was fed only with formula, had serious health problems. He needed large quantities of vitamins and minerals, which he had to receive in the form of puree. But if you give such an amount to an unprepared child, the consequences were much more serious than "simple" vitamin deficiency …

Therefore, it was decided from three weeks to start "accustoming" the child to food unsuitable for age, giving juices drop by drop. At three months, the child ate mashed potatoes with might and main, and at six months it was considered normal to eat food from the family table.

These recommendations are still remembered and actively inspired by our mothers and grandmothers to their young relatives. But already in the 60s, the time for introducing complementary foods gradually began to be postponed, since the child's body, forced to process unadapted food, worked in extreme conditions. This was often reflected by various allergies, and delayed effects were not uncommon.

Gastrointestinal diseases, gastritis, pancreatitis manifested themselves during hormonal changes in the body already in adolescence. Alas, the mothers attributed this to the teen's poor nutrition ("Eat some buns, and now you have finished playing!") And not to the fact that they once fed the baby with inappropriate food.

This is the legacy left to us by the Russian and Soviet traditions of breastfeeding, and those attitudes that a woman has to overcome when she wants to safely and safely breastfeed her baby.

Irina Ryukhova, consultant of AKEV