Infant Feeding and Professional Advice in the First Half of the 20th Century in Greece

This study aims to assess the role that health professionals and State policies played in shaping breastfeeding practices and attitudes in Greece during the first half of the 20th century. Original texts were used; including those concerned with breastfeeding traditions, health professionals' attitudes to breastfeeding, infant feeding patterns, partial breastfeeding, artificial feeding and State policies for the promotion of breastfeeding. Content analysis was used and breastfeeding rates were considered. In the first two decades of the 20th century, most Greek women breastfed their children, as advised by other experienced women. In the succeeding decades, health professionals and policy makers wrote books and articles praising breastfeeding albeit stressing the nursing mothers' ignorance of sanitary measures. Many health professionals were influenced by trends in developed countries and advocated novel infant feeding practices. Consequently, full breastfeeding was not promoted.