The "Breastfeeding Crisis": Parenting, Welfare Policies, and Ideology in Imperial Germany, 1871-1914

Towards the second half of the nineteenth century public health officials and government representatives became increasingly concerned about the high rate of infant mortality in Germany accompanied by a sharp drop in the birth rate. Consequently, an unprecedented campaign for maternal breastfeeding became a key element of the German maternal welfare movement. On the basis of source material that ranges from treatises written by physicians in state employment to statements by mothers and their family members, this chapter discusses the role of maternal breastfeeding at the interface between ideology, control, disciplining and protection on the one hand, and everyday parenting practices on the other. By exploring this as yet little-studied aspect of maternal history this chapter sheds new light on the relationship between parenting and the state.