Milk for the fatherland. Infant welfare and infant feeding during the First World War (Milan, Italy)
Journal title SOCIETÀ E STORIA
Author/s Flores Reggiani
Publishing Year 2016 Issue 2016/153
Language Italian Pages 35 P. 485-519 File size 787 KB
DOI 10.3280/SS2016-153003
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The social and economic changes that followed the outbreak of the Great War accelerated the evolution of the traditional charitable systems, also in the maternalinfantile field. The decrease of the legitimate birth rate, the higher cost of living and the need for married women to replace men in the agricultural work undermined the wet-nurses’ recruitment from Italian foundling homes. In the case of Milan, the most effective solution was not represented either by the recent and disputed practice of subsidies to unmarried mothers, or - in view of its lethal effects - by the use of artificial milk, but by the imposition of maternal breast-feeding as a condition for the acceptance of "illegitimate" children in the institute. This practice was maintained even after the end of the conflict (until 1924), because, besides reducing infant mortality, it induced single mothers to legally recognize their children. It was the beginning of an era of social protectionism in which individual freedom of choice was subordinated to the collective interest.
Keywords: First World War, foundling homes, Milan (Italy), illegitimate maternity, breast-feeding, Welfare.
- La storia sociale contemporanea in Italia: tempi e temi Il caso di «Società e storia» Nicola Labanca, in SOCIETÀ E STORIA 178/2023 pp.743
DOI: 10.3280/SS2022-178006
Flores Reggiani, Latte per la patria. Assistenza alla prima infanzia ed emergenza alimentare a Milano durante la Grande Guerra in "SOCIETÀ E STORIA " 153/2016, pp 485-519, DOI: 10.3280/SS2016-153003