OK, other that the fact that breastfeeding started with the first baby, have you ever wondered how breastfeeding and infant feeding practices have changed through the ages? Here are some articles on this subject.
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History of Breastfeeding by Ted Greiner, PhD
History of Nursing Bottles by Ed Bogucki from the American Collectors of Infant Feeders
Neonatal Feeding by Martin H. Greenberg, MD, Chapter 4 from Historical Review and Recent Advances in Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine (Smith GF and Vidyasagar D, editors)
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An Essay upon Nursing and the Management of Children, from their Birth to Three Years of Age, by a Physician [William Cadogan, 1711-1797] (scroll down to the part beginning with “The Feeding of Children” – 7th paragraph)
The philosopher Favorinus on breast-feeding (Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights 12.1, exc. L)
Wet Nursing
History of Wet Nursing/Cross Nursing by Judy Minami (scroll down toward the end)
Choosing a Wet-nurse from Childbirth or The Happy Deliverie of Women by James Guillemeau, London 1612
Advice on hiring a wet-nurse. Rome, 1st cent. A.D.
Hiring a wet-nurse. Italy, 3rd/2nd cent. B.C.
Two contracts for the services of wet nurses for slave children. Alexandria, 13 B.C.
Books of interest
Milk, Money, and Madness: The Culture and Politics of Breastfeeding
by Naomi Baumslag and Dia L. Michels
A Social History of Wet Nursing in America : From Breast to Bottle
by Janet Lynne Golden