The maternal role and its associated practices were subject to much scrutiny throughout the Victorian period. Whilst motherhood was seen as the natural destiny of the (respectable) woman, mothers were nonetheless deemed in need of strict guidance on how best to raise their offspring. This was offered in an extensive range of advice and conduct books, via newspapers, journals, and fiction, and from medical practitioners, and covered pregnancy, childbirth, and all aspects of care for babies and young children. This article considers Victorian advice on infant feeding, focusing in particular on the various strategies deployed to encourage mothers to breastfeed. Advice literature for mothers frequently invoked patriarchal – religious, medical, and (pseudo-) scientific – authority, in line with broader Victorian discourses on femininity. Much of this advice was produced by, or drew on, the authority of (male) medical practitioners, whilst comparatively little emphasis was placed on maternal experience as a source of expertise. Set within the wider historical context of shifting trends in infant feeding, this article analyses the various persuasive techniques employed by the authors of advice literature, which ultimately served as an attempt to control women’s maternal behaviours and to suppress their own maternal authority. K E Y W O R D S : advice books, infant feeding, breastfeeding, motherhood, maternity, medical advice In October 1864, Queen Victoria wrote to her pregnant daughter, Princess Alice, condemning her decision to breastfeed: ‘a Child can never be as well nursed by a lady of rank and nervous and refined temperament – for the less feeling and the more like an animal the wet-nurse is, the better for the child’.2 When Alice disregarded her advice, Victoria reputedly named one of the cows in the royal dairy after her.3 Victoria’s position was out of step with the majority of Victorian advice books for mothers, which employ a range of arguments to encourage maternal breastfeeding. But Alice’s choice to disregard her mother’s advice also parallels wider discourses on infant feeding, in which the authority of the mother is persistently undermined or obscured. This article considers the relationship between Victorian advice literature on infant feeding and constructions of femininity in relation to questions of authority. As Jay Mechling observes, ‘childrearing manuals are the consequents not of childrearing values but of childrearing manual-writing values’.4 Victorian advice literature on infant feeding, therefore, 1 Anon., The Mother’s Thorough Resource Book (London: Ward and Lock, 1860), p. 50. 2 Queen Victoria to Princess Alice, 12 October 1864, quoted in Hannah Pakula, An Uncommon Woman (London: Phoenix Press, 1997), p. 221. 3 See Helen Rappaport, Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003), p. 339. 4 Jay Mechling, ‘Advice to Historians on Advice to Mothers’, Journal of Social History, 9 (1975), 44–63 (p. 53). * Arts and Humanities, Brunel University, E-mail: Jessica.cox@brunel.ac.uk Journal of Victorian Culture, 2020, Vol. XX, No. XX, 1–17 doi: 10.1093/jvcult/vcz065 Original Article D ow naded rom http/academ ic.p.com /jvc/advance-article-i/10.1093/jvcult/vcz065/5698391 by gest on 24 Feruary 2020 2 • Maternal Ideals in Breastfeeding Advice should be treated with some scepticism in terms of what it tells us about infant-feeding practices. It does, however, reveal much about public discourses around gender and maternity through the methods employed to encourage mothers to engage in particular practices. The article begins by situating these debates within the broader historical context of Victorian infant-feeding practices, as well as in relation to later critical discussions. There follows an exploration of a range of Victorian advice literature and an examination of the manner in which medical, (pseudo-) scientific, and religious authority is invoked to persuade women to breastfeed, mirroring wider literary and cultural attempts to influence and control women’s behaviour and bodies. The focus is predominantly on advice literature published in Britain during the Victorian period. The nineteenth century witnessed a rapid expansion in the production of books, articles, and journals directed specifically at mothers, many of which reflect wider gender ideologies of the time.5 The works discussed here are notable for their concern with infant-feeding practices. The range of publication dates is deliberately broad.6 Whilst trends in infant feeding altered over the period, along with scientific understanding of the benefits and dangers of certain practices, there are, as this article shows, persistent patterns in the strategies deployed in Victorian advice literature to encourage mothers to adopt certain practices. These tactics of persuasion frequently include the invocation of various authorities: scientific, medical, religious – but only rarely that of the mother herself. Consequently, they reflect wider trends in public discourse in the nineteenth century – an arena from which women were frequently excluded, due to a perceived lack of expertise, or the implication that it was not appropriate for them to engage (publicly) in debate. Simon Morgan notes that ‘the boundaries between public and private were continually being tested and renegotiated’,7 and this is reflected in women’s participation in the advice book industry.8 Nonetheless, women’s voices as a source of (maternal) authority are oppressed even whilst they participate as a consequence of the pervasive authority of the Victorian medical man, whose expertise is frequently invoked in advice literature on breastfeeding. This article, then, whilst contributing to existing scholarship on infant feeding in the nineteenth century, also seeks to develop a critical understanding of the relationship between advice literature, gender ideologies, public discourse, and (patriarchal) authority in Victorian Britain. Debates around infant feeding form part of broader Victorian ideologies on femininity and maternity, which valorize the figure of the breastfeeding mother and frequently condemn as ‘unnatural’ alternative practices of infant feeding. These ideologies contributed to the Victorian cult of motherhood, reflected in a myriad of literary and cultural forms, but particularly in advice and conduct books aimed specifically at mothers. The figure of the (‘respectable’, upper-/ 5 See Deborah Gorham, The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal (1982; Abingdon: Routledge, 2013), especially Chapter 4, ‘Victorian Advice About the Management of Female Childhood’. 6 The article refers to approximately two dozen advice books and articles, the earliest published in 1810 and the latest in 1897, though the majority are early to mid-Victorian, reflecting the growth in maternal advice literature during this period. Whilst several of the articles referenced here were published anonymously the majority of the books discussed are male-authored (eight, versus four by female authors, and one which was published anonymously). This speaks to the significant contribution made by male writers – and more specifically, as discussed later, medical writers – to maternal advice literature in the nineteenth century. 7 Simon Morgan, A Victorian Woman’s Place: Public Culture in the Nineteenth Century (London: I. B. Tauris, 2007), p. 2. 8 Critical work on the subject of Victorian women’s participation in the advice industry has increased in recent years. See, for example, Emma Ferry, ‘“Any Lady Can Do This Without Much Trouble . . .”: Class and Gender in The Dining Room (1878)’, Interiors, 5 (2014), 141–59; Caroline Austin-Bolt, ‘Sarah Ellis’s The Women of England: Domestic Happiness and Gender Performance’, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, 37 (2015), 183–95. D ow naded rom http/academ ic.p.com /jvc/advance-article-i/10.1093/jvcult/vcz065/5698391 by gest on 24 Feruary 2020 Maternal Ideals in Breastfeeding Advice • 3 middle-class) mother was valorized throughout the nineteenth century. Anne Taylor’s saccharine poem, ‘My Mother’, first published in 1805 but reprinted throughout the period, encapsulates this image of the breastfeeding mother: ‘Who fed me from her gentle breast / And hush’d me in her arms to rest / And on my cheek sweet kisses prest? / My Mother’.9 As Barbara Thaden notes, ‘During the Victorian period, the idealized middle-class mother’s function became providing for the health, happiness, and peace of all family members, while appearing to have no needs of her own’.10 These duties were viewed as sacrosanct, not only because they involved the protection and nurturing of that bastion of Victorian respectability, the family, but also because it was perceived as essential for the future health of the nation to ensure the moral and physical health of the child. Motherhood was viewed as all-encompassing, leaving little or no room for work or activities outside of the home, as Frances Power Cobbe indicates in her 1881 lectures, The Duties of Women: So immense are the claims on a Mother, physical claims on her bodily and brain vigour, and moral claims on her heart and thoughts, that she cannot, I believe, meet them all, and find any large margin beyond for other cares and work. She serves the community in the very best and highest way it is possible to do, by giving birth to healthy children, whose physical strength has not been defrauded, and to whose moral and mental nurture she can give the whole of her thoughts. This is her Function, Public and Private, at one, – the Profession which she has adopted. No higher can be found[.]11 Whilst this may seem at odds with Cobbe’s role in the campaign for women’s rights, it illustrates the pervasive influence of the Victorian cult of motherhood. This was seen as women’s ‘natural’ destiny, and those who failed to fulfil the maternal role were often treated with suspicion and disdain. But, whilst Victorian gender ideol

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“最神圣的职责”1：维多利亚时期母乳喂养建议中的母亲理想和权威话语

整个维多利亚时期，母性角色及其相关做法都受到严格审查。虽然母性被视为（受人尊敬的）女性的自然命运，但母亲仍然被认为需要严格指导如何最好地抚养后代。这是通过报纸、期刊和小说以及来自医生的广泛的建议和行为书籍提供的，涵盖了怀孕、分娩以及婴儿和幼儿护理的所有方面。本文考虑了维多利亚时代关于婴儿喂养的建议，尤其侧重于鼓励母亲进行母乳喂养的各种策略。为母亲提供的建议文献经常援引重男轻女——宗教、医学和（伪）科学——权威，与维多利亚时代关于女性气质的更广泛的论述相一致。这些建议的大部分是由（男性）医生的权威提出或借鉴的，而相对较少的重点是将母亲的经验作为专业知识的来源。本文以婴儿喂养趋势转变的更广泛历史背景为背景，分析了建议文献作者采用的各种说服技巧，这些技巧最终试图控制妇女的母亲行为并压制她们自己的母亲权威。关键词：建议书、婴儿喂养、母乳喂养、母性、生育、医疗建议 1864 年 10 月，维多利亚女王写信给她怀孕的女儿爱丽丝公主，谴责她决定母乳喂养：“一个孩子永远不可能被一位地位高、神经质、气质优雅的女士照顾得那么好——因为奶妈越没有感情，越像动物，对孩子越好。”2 当爱丽丝无视她的建议时，据称，维多利亚以她的名字命名了皇家乳制品中的一头奶牛。3 维多利亚的立场与大多数维多利亚时期的母亲建议书不一致，这些书采用了一系列论点来鼓励母亲母乳喂养。但爱丽丝选择无视母亲的建议也与更广泛的关于婴儿喂养的讨论相似，在这种讨论中，母亲的权威被持续削弱或模糊。本文考虑了维多利亚时代关于婴儿喂养的建议文献与权威问题相关的女性气质构建之间的关系。正如杰伊·梅奇林所观察到的，“育儿手册不是育儿价值观的结果，而是育儿手册写作价值观的结果”。4 维多利亚时代关于婴儿喂养的建议文献，因此，1 Anon.，The Mother's Thorough Resource Book（伦敦：Ward and Lock，1860），p。50. 2 维多利亚女王致爱丽丝公主，1864 年 10 月 12 日，引自 Hannah Pakula, An Uncommon Woman (London: Phoenix Press, 1997), p. 221. 3 见海伦·拉帕波特，维多利亚女王：传记伴侣（加利福尼亚州圣巴巴拉：ABC-CLIO，2003 年），第 3 页。339. 4 Jay Mechling，“对母亲的建议给历史学家的建议”，社会历史杂志，9（1975），44-63（第 53 页）。* 布鲁内尔大学艺术与人文学科，电子邮件：Jessica.cox@brunel.ac.uk 维多利亚文化杂志，2020 年，卷。XX, No. XX, 1–17 doi: 10.1093/jvcult/vcz065 原始文章 D ow naded rom http/academ ic.p.com /jvc/advance-article-i/10。1093/jvcult/vcz065/5698391 by gest 2020 年 2 月 24 日 2 • 母乳喂养建议中的孕产妇理想 应该对它告诉我们有关婴儿喂养实践的内容持怀疑态度。然而，它确实通过鼓励母亲参与特定实践的方法揭示了许多关于性别和母性的公共话语。文章首先将这些辩论置于维多利亚时期婴儿喂养实践的更广泛历史背景中，以及与后来的批判性讨论相关。随后对一系列维多利亚时期的建议文献进行了探索，并考察了医学、（伪）科学和宗教权威被用来说服女性进行母乳喂养的方式，反映了影响和控制女性行为的更广泛的文学和文化尝试和身体。重点主要是维多利亚时期在英国出版的建议文献。19 世纪见证了专门针对母亲的书籍、文章和期刊的快速增长，其中许多反映了当时更广泛的性别意识形态。5 这里讨论的作品以对婴儿喂养实践的关注而著称。发布日期的范围有意扩大。6 虽然婴儿喂养的趋势在此期间发生了变化，以及对某些做法的好处和危险的科学理解，但正如本文所示，维多利亚时代建议中部署的策略中存在持续模式鼓励母亲采取某些做法的文献。这些说服策略经常包括援引各种权威：科学、医学、宗教信仰——但很少是母亲本人的信仰。因此，它们反映了 19 世纪公共话语的更广泛趋势——女性经常被排除在这个领域之外，因为她们认为缺乏专业知识，或者暗示她们不适合（公开）参与辩论。西蒙·摩根指出，“公共和私人之间的界限不断受到考验和重新谈判”，7 这反映在女性参与咨询书行业。8 尽管如此，女性作为（母性）权威来源的声音受到压制，即使在由于维多利亚州医生的普遍权威，他们参与其中，他的专业知识经常在有关母乳喂养的建议文献中被引用。那么这篇文章，在为 19 世纪有关婴儿喂养的现有奖学金做出贡献的同时，还寻求对维多利亚时代英国的建议文学、性别意识形态、公共话语和（父权制）权威之间的关系进行批判性理解。围绕婴儿喂养的辩论构成了维多利亚时代关于女性气质和母性的更广泛意识形态的一部分，这些意识形态使母乳喂养的母亲形象有价值，并经常谴责婴儿喂养的“不自然”替代做法。这些意识形态促成了维多利亚时代的母爱崇拜，体现在无数的文学和文化形式中，尤其是在专门针对母亲的建议和行为书籍中。（“可敬的”，上/5 见黛博拉·戈勒姆，维多利亚时代的女孩和女性理想（1982 年；Abingdon：Routledge，2013 年），特别是第 4 章，“维多利亚时代关于女性童年管理的建议”。6 这篇文章引用了大约两打建议书和文章，最早出版于 1810 年，最新出版于 1897 年，但大多数是维多利亚时代早期至中期，反映了这一时期孕产妇咨询文献的增长。虽然这里引用的几篇文章是匿名发表的，但所讨论的大多数书籍都是男性作者的（8 篇，女性作者 4 篇，还有 1 篇是匿名出版的）。这说明了男性作家——更具体地说，如下文所述，医学作家——对 19 世纪产妇建议文学做出的重大贡献。7 西蒙·摩根，维多利亚时代女性的地位：19 世纪的公共文化（伦敦：IB Tauris，2007 年），第 3 页。2. 8 近年来，关于维多利亚州妇女参与咨询行业的重要工作有所增加。例如，参见 Emma Ferry，“任何女士都可以轻松做到这一点。. .”：餐厅中的阶级和性别（1878）'，室内设计，5（2014），141-59；Caroline Austin-Bolt，“莎拉·埃利斯的英国女性：家庭幸福和性别表现”，19 世纪背景，37（2015），183-95。Dow naded rom http/academ ic.p.com /jvc/advance-article-i/10.1093/jvcult/vcz065/5698391 by gest 在 2020 年 2 月 24 日母乳喂养建议中的母亲理想 • 3 中产阶级）母亲在整个过程中受到重视十九世纪。安妮·泰勒 (Anne Taylor) 的糖精诗《我的母亲》(My Mother) 于 1805 年首次出版，但在整个时期都重印，概括了母乳喂养的母亲的形象：'谁用她温柔的胸膛喂我/让我在她的怀里安静休息/在我的脸颊上甜蜜的亲吻？/ 我的母亲。9 正如芭芭拉·萨登 (Barbara Thaden) 所言，“在维多利亚时代，理想化的中产阶级母亲的职责变成了为所有家庭成员提供健康、幸福和安宁，而她自己似乎没有任何需求”。 10 这些职责被视为神圣不可侵犯，不仅因为它们涉及保护和培育维多利亚时代的体面堡垒——家庭，还因为它被认为对于国家未来的健康至关重要，以确保他们的身心健康。孩子。正如弗朗西斯·鲍尔·科布 (Frances Power Cobbe) 在她 1881 年的讲座《女性的责任》(The Duties of Women) 中所指出的那样，母性被视为包罗万象，几乎没有或根本没有在家外工作或活动的空间：对母亲的要求如此之大，对她的身体和大脑活力的身体要求，以及对她的心灵和思想的道德要求如此之大，我相信，她无法满足所有这些要求，也无法为其他关心和工作找到任何大的余地。她以最好的和最高的方式为社区服务，生下健康的孩子，他们的体力没有被欺骗，她可以把她的全部思想都奉献给他们的道德和精神培养。这是她的职能，公共职能和私人职能合二为一——她所采用的职业。没有比这更高的了[.]11 虽然这似乎与 Cobbe 在妇女权利运动中的作用不一致，但它说明了维多利亚时代的母爱崇拜的普遍影响。这被视为女性的“自然”命运，而那些未能履行母亲职责的人往往受到怀疑和蔑视。但是，虽然维多利亚时代的性别理想