Baby food in 12th c. England

[wiseheart]

I'm writing a Cadfael story, and one of my characters has just born a child some two weeks ago. She doesn't have enough milk to feed the baby, and neither is a suitable wet nurse to find. So, what would she give the baby? Cow milk? Some mashed vegetables

Comments

[threnody]

I love you for writing a Cadfael story. <3

Goat milk would probably be the answer, and the person who suggested honey is probably spot on. Or indeed, any kind of plant that would add sweetness to it, if honey wasn't readily available.

People tend to go spastic when mentioning babies on anything but breastmilk (supplementary or not), but my seven siblings and I were raised solely on raw goat milk and we're all healthy adults of above average intelligence without any debilitating allergies outside of ragweed season, shellfish, and walnuts; so I'm here to tell you it can happen. :)

[wiseheart]

Thanks. :) Cadfael is something amazing, isn't it? I'm very glad to have the advice of someone with first-hand experience. It's immensely helpful in this matter.

[wiseheart]

Thanks for the warning. Whether they knew it in the twelfth century, though, is debattable. :)

[sushidog]

They didn't use pesticides in the 12th century though! I think the reason honey is now not advised for babies is due to the risk of botulism, not because of its alleged effect for hay fever (which is thought to be due to a form of inoculation, rather than any effect on the immune system), but again, this doesn't apply to the OP, since they didn't know about the risks back then. Honey was often given to babies, in fact.

[wiseheart]

Actually, that's true. According to "Life in a Medieval City" by Frances and Joseph Gies, right after the birth a baby's palate was smeared with honey to give him or her an appetite. That's 13th century, granted, but I don't think practices would have changed that much in this area within a few decades.

[nineveh_uk]

The husband of a friend of mine, in his late thirties, was weaned at three weeks _on medical advice_ because he had reached the weight at which weaning was considered appropriate. He's an ordinary healthy man today. Quite possibly he'd have been healthier if it hadn't happened, but he's alive and well over six feet tall. The significant advantage he has over medieval!baby of course is that the remaining milk he was being fed, and the food, was snot laden with harmful bacteria.

[rosathome]

Your typo is making me giggle.

[nineveh_uk]

Oh dear. Though there are no doubt people in the world who would say that feeding a baby snot is less of an evil poison than formula milk. THey are idiots, of course, but there you go.