Wet Nurse or Milk Bank? Evolution in the Model of Human Lactation: New Challenges for the Islamic Population

Blanca Espina-Jerez (), Laura Romera-Álvarez (), Mercedes de Dios-Aguado, Aliete Cunha-Oliveira, José Siles-Gonzalez and Sagrario Gómez-Cantarino
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Blanca Espina-Jerez: Department of Nursing, University of Alicante, Carretera de San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03690 Alicante, Spain
Laura Romera-Álvarez: Faculty of Physiotherapy and Nursing, Toledo Campus, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 45071 Toledo, Spain
Mercedes de Dios-Aguado: ENDOCU Research Group (Nursing, Pain and Care), Department of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy University of Castilla-La Mancha, 45071 Toledo, Spain
Aliete Cunha-Oliveira: Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA: E), Nursing School of Coimbra (ESEnfC), 3004-011 Coimbra, Portugal
José Siles-Gonzalez: Department of Nursing, University of Alicante, Carretera de San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03690 Alicante, Spain
Sagrario Gómez-Cantarino: ENDOCU Research Group (Nursing, Pain and Care), Department of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy University of Castilla-La Mancha, 45071 Toledo, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: (1) Introduction: The establishment of milk banks in the Islamic world as well as donation to Islamic families in Western countries remains a challenge in the context of human lactation. Religious reservations established since the Qur’an and regulated at the legal–religious and medical level equate milk kinship with consanguinity, which prevents donation. The aim of the study was to analyse the evolution in the model of breastfeeding and care in Islamic society. (2) Methods: The methodology of comparative history was applied, following the structural–dialectical model of care. Historical manuals, articles and databases were analysed. (3) Results: Paediatric care in medical manuals from the 10th–15th centuries is similar to that practiced by the Muslim population today, some beneficial, some harmful; the wet nurse had to follow a series of dietary habits and have a series of physical, moral and educational characteristics in order to be hired. They constituted a beginning of pseudo-professionalisation, in a domestic–family framework. Human milk was used as a remedy for different health problems. (4) Conclusions: Islamic society and nursing have to evolve towards transnational care adapted to the needs of the population.

Keywords: infant care; neonatal nursing; paediatric nursing; breastfeeding; milk banks; reproductive history; history of nursing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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