One Sunday last June I set out to go to church after a month-long absence. My plan was foiled, however, when my baby daughter demanded her morning feed. I was disappointed, but I joked with my mother that surely God would understand; after all, His only Son was breastfed. Indeed, the image of “Maria lactans†(Latin for “Mary of the milkâ€) is a common motif in Renaissance art: numerous sculptors, painters and other artists depicted the Virgin Mary nursing the Baby Jesus. Mary’s lactational performance is mentioned in Luke 11:27, in which a woman shouts out to Jesus, “Blessed [are] the breasts at which you nursed.â€
References to breastfeeding are sprinkled throughout the Bible. This is hardly surprising, as the ancient Hebrews were a very family-oriented society. For example, the popular expression “out of the mouths of babes†comes from Psalm 8:2’s “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings [“suckling†meaning a child who sucks at his or her mother’s breast] hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.†Breastfeeding provided benefits to both women and their babies. At a time when standards of hygiene and medicine were not what they are today, mother’s milk protected infants from potentially fatal infections. Nursing also acted as a natural form of birth control by suppressing menstruation, allowing women to space the births of their children and avoid the stress of constant pregnancy. The contraceptive potential of lactation is illustrated in the following passage: “Now when she [the prophet Hosea’s wife Gomer] had weaned Lo-ru-ha-mah, she conceived, and bore a son†(Hosea 1:8).
One might ask how long children in Biblical times were breastfed. While the Bible contains no specific instructions in this regard, the Muslim holy book the Koran, which was written in the same part of the world as the Bible was, advises mothers to nurse their babies for two years (interestingly, the same timeframe recommended today by the World Health Organization). So this is probably the minimum amount of time Hebrew youngsters remained at the breast. In fact, evidence from the Bible itself suggests at least some women nursed their children beyond two years. For instance, in the Apocryphal book of Maccabees a Jewish mother reminds her son that she has “carried you in my womb for nine months and nursed you for three years.†Similarly, as soon as the prophet Samuel is weaned by his mother Hannah, he is sent to serve with the priest Eli in the temple, which tells us the boy was at least past the pre-verbal toddler stage.
The Bible also speaks of the practice of wet nursing, whereby a woman was paid to breastfeed a baby not born to her. Sometimes rich women would hire wet nurses rather than feed their children themselves. For example, Isaac’s wife Rebecca had a nurse named Deborah who was buried under an oak tree (Genesis 35:8). Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth became lame, according to II Samuel 4:4, after his nurse dropped him while fleeing at the news of Jonathan’s and his father Saul’s deaths. Nonetheless, it appears that most Hebrew women, even wealthy ones like Abraham’s wife Sarah, breastfed their babies themselves.
Two interesting stories involving breastfeeding appear at the beginning of the Old Testament. In Exodus, the infant Moses is found by the Pharaoh’s daughter in an ark of bulrushes. To nurse him she hires a Hebrew woman, who unknown to the Pharaoh’s daughter happens to be the child’s biological mother. The second story is featured in the Book of Ruth. A Jewish woman, Naomi, experiences the loss of her two adult sons, both of whom die childless. One of her daughters-in-law, the Moabite Ruth, remarries a relative of her late husband and has a son named Obed. Because Naomi has left no biological descendants, however, she adopts Obed as her own; the neighbours even declare, “There is a son born to Naomi.†To cement the mother-child bond, Naomi “[takes] the child and [lays] it in her bosom and [becomes] nurse unto it.â€
Now one might wonder how Naomi could nurse a baby when she had presumably borne her last child decades earlier. This occurred through a process called relactation, whereby a woman’s breast can be stimulated by a child’s sucking to produce milk again years after giving birth. In some poor countries today grandmothers may nurse a grandchild if the baby’s mother dies. Even in the modern United States , feminist sociologist Pauline Bart – who is Jewish herself – writes of having milk reappear in her breasts after suckling her granddaughter.
Biblical authors used the breast and its product, milk, to symbolize nurturance and abundance. Isaiah is probably the writer who employs these metaphors the most. For instance, in Isaiah 60:16 the Lord promises that the holy city of Jerusalem will “drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts†as a sign of its glory. All who love the city will “nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts [and] drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance†(Isaiah 66:11). Isaiah compares the relationship between God and His people to that between a nursing mother and her baby. In his own words, “can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!†(Isaiah 49: 15). St. Paul also speaks of breastfeeding metaphorically. He tells the Thessalonians that “we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children†(1 Thessalonians 2:7). Even secular scientists are recognizing the significance of breastfeeding to the mother-infant relationship. Oxford geneticist Bryan Sykes in his book Adam’s Curse talks about the “unconditional love and security†that nursing represents for children.
After Biblical times the popularity and prevalence of breastfeeding went through ups and downs. In the twentieth century West baby formula was once promoted as better and more “scientific†than breast milk. Westerners eventually rediscovered the benefits of nursing, and breastfeeding rates started rising again in the 1970s. For some women, this rediscovery had a spiritual dimension. Kathleen Mitchell, co-author of the book Cesarean Birth: A Couple’s Guide for Decision and Preparation, writes that though she bottle-fed her first two children, after her third birth she decided to use her “God-given ability to breastfeed my baby.†It’s an ability I’ve discovered on having my own baby and hope to use in the next two years.
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This is a beautifully written, highly informative article with points I was actually totally unaware of, such as breastfeeding provides natural contraception. My young, expecting daughter is very determined to breastfeed and informs me that hospital staff strongly insist new mothers adopt it, as it makes ultimate sense the body was designed for this and formula substitutes may not provide the real benefits from a well nourished mother.
Unfortunately, I never considered it myself, even though my mother was a nurse and never adopted it. Then of course I unexpectedly had a C-section at the last minute which was shockingly disappointing to me, but we both were in danger of dying due to last minute edema build-up. Then there was the Minnesota blizzard that hit the city and my mother and younger sister were on a Greyhound bus on their way to help. My birth experience was a total living nightmare and I’m sure it was the same for my husband, who literally rubbed my back for twenty-four hours while he checked with the late arriving bus.
I’ve never appreciated reading any article so much and will pass it onto my daughter so she can look forward to a positive experience.
Then the other more than mishap, IMO, that happened was when we decided to take pre-birth classes and toured the various facilities and viewed videos. All not available to the ancient cultures. Weren’t they lucky in retrospect.
I realize now I had quite a sadist for a doctor. He rarely spoke on the monthly visits except to say, “I hope you’re prepared for the extreme pain of childbirth.” I thought at the time this was part of the monthly advice you were supposed to absorb and didn’t really mention it to anybody, not even my husband nor mother, a nurse.
Because of the blizzard she arrived a few hours after I delivered by C-section. But for hours before the operation, I desperately wanted to walk and was literally “barred” from doing so. As in the bars went angrily up (by this wonderful doctor) at my bed. Then, when everybody was out of the room (my husband had gone for a meal) he said to me, “Are you 22 or 12?” This all wouldn’t happen today I’m positive of that. People are swifter to recognize “irregularities.”
I might as well bite the bullet and conclude with the worst of the experience, which was other specialists were called in when the baby was in danger of “drowning” in the womb. So I was being examined of course and was left naked while four doctors and my husband were all discoursing at the end of the bed. I was screaming in my head trying to get my husband’s attention to cover me, but he was oblivious. Now I know Canadian doctors would have had the sense to pull down the nightshirt. After the 12 year old comment, and this final humiliation the likes of which I’ve never experienced before or after, I went into the operating room (cold, sterile and freezing to death). But my newborn was the most beautiful and healthy one among the nine born that day.
The tragedy was the direct result, that while my husband and I had been inseparable for two years of dating and two years of marriage, I turned mentally against him from that hour, and wouldn’t let him hold the baby. He did often say throughout ensuing years, “my friends say, it’s too bad I lost Anna.” Yes, we were the “family that never was” and he went to his deathbed now knowing why I turned against him. I was determined to tell him, but he died a few months earlier than expected.
The upcoming birth in my family I know will be totally the opposite and positive. The present worries parents have today are food degradations and the only thing to do is go with local produce, but life must go on.
In Israel, it’s very common to very discreetly publicly breastfeed, even among the most religious and modest.
Thank you for the comments.
Anna, best of luck to your daughter on the upcoming happy event. In mom’s day, mothers didn’t breastfeed. Formula was presented as a scientific “advancement” over breast milk, and women’s attempts to breastfeed were almost seemingly sabotaged by hospital staff who separated mothers and babies, gave babies formula on a four-hour schedule, etcetera. There were a few brave women who bucked this trend, like my aunt, who now is my main breastfeeding advisor.
To Muse, sometimes breastfeeding discreetly is hard. I generally try to cover myself and/or go to a secluded place if I must feed my daughter in public. It also depends where I am, though. I generally find that Canadian so-called “ethnics,” East Indians, Chinese, Blacks, etcetera, are as a general rule less uptight about breastfeeding than White Canadians. I wouldn’t go topless though even there, though I do at home when I have to breastfeed.
Dear Emilia Liz: No, thank you for a truly superlative article. You’re right, baby formula was touted back then as being more substantive/nutritious than mother’s milk. My daughter is researching it now in-depth and a few of her best friends have now breast-fed. But it must all depend on what the mother’s nutrition intake includes. Can you speak to that a little. I have a good grasp of good nutrition, but in last few years my daughter got on to diet soda a little too much (she was never raised on it). Of course she’s stopped it completely now, along with her morning cup of coffee. She’s eliminated caffeine completely. Now orders a cup of decaffeinated. What are your nutrition views, if your not too busy to reply again?
I’m thinking about breast-feeding discretion and a simple solution would be a lightweight shawl/scarf to drape over a mother’s shoulder that wouldn’t interfere with the baby’s breathing. A lot of malls now have nursing rooms. But even if one’s out in public, nobody at all could object to the feeding with a shawl placed over the shoulder.
My daughter will have more information on it the next time we get together. The question also revolves around the safety of the formula contents as some parents by some credible reports, found ‘faux formulas’ out there to be a problem. The way they discovered it apparently was that the bar code on the bottom of the can was missing. Now I’m also wondering about Gerber baby food jars, etc.
You’re a wonderful source of information here and there are other topics to pursue. For instance, today a report circulated on video films for babies that are of questionable value. Instinct would say they would be as babies absolutely need direct human interaction.
For instance, I created a habit which I stayed with from birth to age two. I’d lie down beside my daughter at about 7 p.m and she’d talk in her baby talk right into my face. Naturally, by age two it was a real conversation. So we talked together (boy did she talk, still does) from 7 p.m. to about 11:30 p.m. Then she’d drift off to sleep and I’d pick her up and place her in her crib.
At age two and a half I went west to stay with my sister, a nurse, and she gave me heck over this habit. Her son was about a month older than mine and he went to bed at about 7 p.m. So my sister insisted that my daughter go into the baby room to sleep without me. Both of us sat at the kitchen table, and mine cried her eyes out for me. My sister said it would do her no harm. Anyway, after a few nights she went right off to sleep without me. My sister was right. But my point is the talking must be encouraged and after all, what comes out of their mouths, continually makes you laugh.
Well, you don’t have time to read a book, but breast-feeding can be simplified and easy, or are there complications, such as running out and the baby’s hungry? Then do you rely on formula.
Muse, you have it exactly right. The world over should view it that way and perhaps will. Since everything valuable “really old, becomes new again.” I regret the lost opportunity, but we were told otherwise.
I read the comment, “swinging arms makes more babies” and I don’t get it. Say again?
If you’re interested Elizia and Muse, research all nutrition instructions in The Holy Bible… there’s a lot there that perhaps we would do well to heed. For instance “Ezekiel’s bread” to name just one. And instructions on which fish is edible and which not. Same with fowl.
This is getting too long. Much appreciation.
The link below outlines the advisability of breastfeeding by an reproductive expert out of John Hopkins. The comments are interesting as well. But the article cites health officials want to see breastfeeding increasingly adopted and recommends at least six months or more. Other articles I’ve read recommends two years. I personally know of a acqaintance at a newspaper office who fed her son at age four. Link below:
http://news.aol.com/health/story/_a/moms-too-quick-to-reach-for-baby-bottle/20070802143309990002?ecid=RSS0001
I had another question for you, Elizia, but it’s escaped me at the moment. I’ll be back with it when I remember it. Cheers.
To Anna, let me know about your question when you remember it!
Great but what about breastfeeding husbands?
Prov 5:19
I just have my Bible in front of me now, and reading this verse, I interpret it as the man being sexually satisfied by the breast, not being fed by it, or perhaps that her breasts please her husband aesthetically (might have been a bit hard given that in those days there were not things like breast implants or breast lifts). But everybody is free to interpret the Bible as they like!
I at first took it that way too and all the commentaries I’ve read have that view. It is after all about marital fidelity but I thought the verse could be read either passively or actively so I checked the Hebrew out and the word satisfy it seems doesn’t mean grateful but drink until full???
What do you think?
I’m not a theologian, so my opinion may not be worth much, but I personally take it to mean “satisfaction” in a sexual way, not in terms of satisfying one’s physical hunger for food. If you read the Song of Solomon, you will see a lot of sexual imagery, including that describing a woman’s breasts, and it doesn’t seem to refer to breastfeeding. But again, everyone interprets the Scriptures in their own way.
I think the idea is sexual satisfaction but not the way it’s been rewritten in new translations.
We westerners love to categorize things and put things in boxes. My breasts are for my husband until baby comes along but now they are for baby!
The bible was written by and for middle easterners who have a more holistic view of life. Add to that, women were raised to think their role in life was to support their husbands and raise as many children as possible. (go forth and multiply)Breastfeeding was mandatory for 2 years and normal for up to 5 (Talmud)
That means that the average wife was breastfeeding non stop for the first 20 years or more of her marriage.
Under those conditions it would be difficult for a husband to not get a mouthful of milk when making love. I imagine there would be differences in personality reactions ranging from Oops! to Mmm what a nice bonus! to Mmm can I have the other side now!
The Song of Solomon has 2 images of breasts as fruit (something you eat) one is a pomegranate, I think it is a visual cue, being round and with a nipple like protrusion on the top. The other is a bunch of grapes! If a woman’s breasts looked like a bunch of grapes I think she would be visiting the Dr regularly. The primary product of grapes is juice!
I think that the passage indicates that a man should be sexually satisfied by his wifes breasts and that that includes drinking her milk, not excludes it. We westerners have difficulty with blurring the lines but middle easterners don’t. Just my huble opinion!
To Kate,
Thank you again for your comment.
I suppose I’ll have to take an “agnostic” approach to the question of whether the reference to the woman’s breast satisfying her husband was in relation to breast milk.
I will say however that some Western men may take a “hands-off” position on a woman’s breast when she is nursing a baby. Case in point: my husband (he actually is from Nicaragua, which I do consider a Western country). He hasn’t touched my breasts since I gave birth, though in reality even before he wasn’t fixated on breasts as some men are. It may be because he doesn’t want to get milk on his hands. Occasionally a woman will leak breast milk while she is having sex (know this first-hand), and some men don’t like that.
This is kind of going a bit off-topic, but the ironic thing is that the human female breast is different from that of other female mammals in that we are the only species in which the breast enlarges even when we are not lactating. In fact, male chimpanzees (our closest relative in the animal kingdom) are not excited by large breasts on a female chimp because it means she is nursing an infant and thus is not fertile at the moment. So I think human females are the only species where the breast is sexual rather than just available for nutrition.
There is a good book called Woman: An Intimate Geography by New York Times science writer Natalie Angier, and it has a chapter on breasts and another on breast milk. You might want to buy it or check it out at the library because it is quite interesting.
I must say how much I appreciate your story, very well put.
As to husbands, I guess they are all different. Mine calls my milk, “liquid love” and “Mother’s medecine”. He says 2 breasts for 1 baby doesn’t add up and he delights in making sure none is wasted.
At first for me it was difficult to reconcile feeding and sex but I could see how much he enjoyed it and after I relaxed about it, we both are much happier.
That is interesting. I think my husband simply doesn’t want to get milk on his hands; he wasn’t exactly thrilled when I leaked milk during the act itself!
I think humans’ views toward sex and breastfeeding are complicated. In some cultures there are taboos on sexual intercourse right after childbirth because it is believed that semen will poison the milk. Some women in addition might no longer view their breasts as sexual organs when they are breastfeeding because lactation can cause women’s breasts to engorge and be too uncomfortable to get much pleasures out of. But it really depends on the woman, her culture, and so on.
Here is a little tip: if your breasts feel painfully engorged, sometimes a little squeeze of the nipples (done by the woman herself or her husband) can alleviate the pain by expressing even a small amount of milk.
Christian Yahoo Group dedicated to this subject.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christian_adult_nursing_relationships/
Here is the link, didn’t come thru with the above post.
All people deserve good life time and credit loans or just credit loan can make it much better. Just because people’s freedom is based on money state.
To MDMHM,
Well, I suppose breast milk has myriad uses…