The Wet-Nursing Industry in the Nineteenth Century and Its Portrayal in Painting
- Art d'Histoire
- May 28
- 3 min read
In nineteenth-century France, a period defined by positivism and hygienism, infant feeding constituted a major health and social challenge—all the more significant as the Parisian bourgeoisie, as well as the workers and artisans of the suburbs, overwhelmingly entrusted their offspring to wet nurses.
The Contradiction of Medical and Moral Discourses
By the end of the eighteenth century, breastfeeding was a marginal practice in Paris, involving fewer than five per cent of births.
In the following century, hygienists examined the dangers and benefits of the practice, arriving at sometimes surprising conclusions.
On one hand, there were those who, following the example of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, defended maternal breastfeeding; however, this recommendation was perceived by the traditionalist Louis de Bonald as a dangerous incitement to animality—a tendency judged natural in women and one that endangered the civilised nation.
On the other hand, the medical theories of the time, championed by Pedro Felipe Monlau or Dr Pierre Garnier, considered married life detrimental to milk production. Because marital duties were thought to exhaust the mother and consequently alter the quality of her milk, a temporary exile to the countryside was recommended for these women—a separation that the historian Jules Michelet compared to a "half-divorce."
Under these conditions, wealthy families opted massively for the employment of live-in wet nurses, or "on-site" nurses, allowing wives to fulfil their social obligations. The less affluent, including the wives of artisans or female workers whose schedules no longer permitted breastfeeding, sent their infants to the countryside at the serious risk of never seeing them alive again.
The Strict Recruitment of the On-Site Wet Nurse
The professionalisation of breastfeeding led to the emergence of specialised agencies. Women, mostly hailing from the Morvan region (known as morvanelles), were subjected there to thorough medical examinations conducted by a doctor or a midwife.
Practitioners discarded those with tuberculosis or syphilis, whose contagion would be fatal to the newborn, and evaluated their teeth, breath, and the quality of their milk.
In return, and to prove their aptitude, candidates displayed a healthy infant—whether it was their own baby or a child rented for the occasion, referred to as a "poupon-réclame" (advertisement baby).
Once hired and settled in her employers' home, this worker benefited from comfortable material conditions. This situation could hide a personal tragedy: to feed another’s child, she often had to wean her own prematurely, exposing it to the mortal dangers of animal milk and the still-inadequate nursing bottle.
Intimate Tensions and New Sanitary Practices
Artists of the late 19th century captured the nuances of these family choices. Auguste Renoir’s painting L'Enfant au sein (Maternité) depicts his own wife breastfeeding their son; was the painter acting out of personal conviction or a lack of means to pay for a replacement?
Conversely, Berthe Morisot adopted the bourgeois norm and painted The Wet Nurse Angèle Feeding Julie Manet.
At the same time, institutions attempted to secure artificial feeding in the face of infant mortality rates that hit 31% for children fed with animal milk, compared to only 11% for those breastfed.
It should be remembered that the nursing bottle of the era was sometimes still a lead bottle or a simple cloth soaked in milk; doctors recommended glass bottles with rubber tips and, above all, the disinfection of these containers.
Vestimentary Codification in Public Spaces
The figure of the wet nurse became a fixture in the streets and gardens of the capital, moving well beyond the private sphere—an omnipresence made all the more visible as the role was distinguished by a well-known uniform.
Department stores, including the Bon Marché, specialised in collections of these capes, kerchiefs, and, especially, bonnets with long ribbons and crowns, which were constantly updated.
The profusion of fabrics and ribbons characterised the social standing of the employers of these workers, who could be found on the benches of Parisian parks.
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