Why Breast Milk Could Be Sold as a Remedy
In ancient medicine, food and medicine were not sharply separated. A substance that seemed nourishing could also be thought to restore strength or correct an imbalance in the body. Breast milk, associated with feeding and sustaining infants, could therefore be valued as a restorative for adults—not merely as a child’s food.
The promise was especially attractive to people seeking to preserve vitality as they aged. But this was a medical belief, not evidence that drinking breast milk could extend life. The appeal lay in the idea that a concentrated source of nourishment might help a weakening body regain what it had lost.
The Nurse Behind the Tonic
Obtaining the milk meant paying for a person’s time and care. A wet nurse—a woman hired to breastfeed another person’s child—could provide milk, making the remedy depend on a worker’s body and labor. For wealthy households, that dependence turned a supposed health treatment into a purchasable service.
The trade also reveals a practical limit to the promise: a tonic that could not be bottled independently required access to a nurse. Longevity, in this case, was imagined as something money might buy, but only through another person’s daily work.
