Using stable isotope analysis to examine the effect of economic change on breastfeeding practices in Spitalfields, London, UK

Abstract

Breastfeeding patterns were subject to a number of fads in 18th and 19th century Britain. Feeding infants by hand, rather than maternal breastfeeding or wet-nursing, became more prevalent among both the wealthy and poor. Substitute foods may have been a convenient alternative for mothers employed away from the household. This study used stable isotope ratio analysis to examine the weaning schedule in the 18th and 19th century skeletal assemblage from Spitalfields, London, UK. Analysis of 72 juvenile ribs revealed δ(15) N elevations of 2-3‰ above the adult mean for individuals up to the age of two, while elevations of 1-2‰ were observed in δ(13) C for the first year of life. This suggests that the introduction of solid foods took place before the end of the first year, and that breastfeeding had entirely ceased by 2 years of age. The age at death of many of these infants is known from historical records, and can be used to pinpoint the amount of time required for the breast milk signal to be observed in the stable isotope ratios of rib collagen. Results show that a δ(15) N elevation can be detected in the ribs of individuals who died as young as 5-6 weeks. Not all individuals at Spitalfields were breastfed, and there may not have been a single uniformly practiced weaning scheme. There is, however, more evidence for prolonged breastfeeding during the 19th century than the 18th century.

Isotopic examination of links between diet, social differentiation, and DISH at the post‐medieval Carmelite Friary of Aalst, Belgium

“…While the reconstruction of human dietary patterns using the stable isotope ratios of carbon (d 13 C) and nitrogen (d 15 N) has become widely applied in scientific archaeology, particularly in prehistory, only a small number of studies have been published on post-medieval (16th-19th c. AD) populations from Europe (Mays, 1997;Richards et al, 2006;M€ uldner and Richards, 2007;Nitsch et al, 2010Nitsch et al, , 2011Lamb et al, 2012;Roberts et al, 2012;Beaumont et al, 2013;Salesse et al, 2013). This is unfortunate since, unlike most documentary sources, skeletal remains have the ability to act as an important and unbiased source of paleodietary information which is specific to a site or population.…”

Infant feeding practice in medieval Japan: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human skeletons from Yuigahama‐minami

“…Infant feeding practices in ancient human populations have also been reconstructed using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis (Prowse et al, 2008;Nitsch et al, 2011;Howcroft et al, 2012;Beaumont et al, 2013a;Tsutaya et al, 2014). Exclusively breastfed infants show 2-3& higher d…”

Urban and rural infant‐feeding practices and health in early medieval Central Europe (9th–10th Century, Czech Republic)

“…Parental effort also shows a quadratic association with pathogen stress, increasing as pathogen stress rises to moderate levels, but decreasing at higher levels (Quinlan, 2007). Economic or subsistence strategies that employ mothers away from the household or that expose them to a heavy workload in a tough environment can also adversely affect the duration of breastfeeding (Thorvaldsen, 2008;Nitsch et al, 2011). Moreover, there are cultural background factors, including medical, religious, and sexual ideas, that influence women's beliefs about optimal feeding practices (Fildes, 1995;Thorvaldsen, 2008;Yovsi and Keller, 2008).…”