Formulas & Foods, for Baby Too:
Historically it wasn't uncommon for nursing to last two years or so per child (small differences existed Nation to Nation, time-period to time-period). The nutritional value of breast milk for growing infants is unquestionably immense… The immune building, brain-growing capabilities of this sustenance has come to light in recent history, and in turn formula companies have responded by offering new ingredients that mimic compounds originally only found in human milk. However such technology is rather new while the need for substitute breast milk is age old. So how did Indigenous families of the Eastern Woodlands combat the inherent need of feeding infants when mother's milk was unavailable?
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"Breast milk as unavailable" could have actually been a rarity to begin with, only because if the natural mother was unable or unavailable to nurse, most likely a family member who was nursing would have been available (provided no taboos were in place to hinder the sharing of breast milk). It was (and still is) Indigenous custom to keep extensive ties with relations, and the possibility of not even one nursing woman in an extended family was available would likely have been rare (and not because women were having lots of children, one after another, but as stated before nursing a single child could easily last two years or more, and often putting off pregnancies for 2 or 3 years after the last births was common). However there were circumstances that kept some infants from nursing women whether it be timing, physical distance, or cultural taboos, and in these cases a milk substitute had to be created. And Native folks not only had the resources to nourish a small infant, they have the traditions too.
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A Jesuit Missionary (who published his notes in 1632) witnessed a Wendat (Huron) man whose wife had passed away, leaving their infant without a source of human milk. Although the circumstances as to why another woman didn't nurse the child is not addressed, it is made clear that the father knew just how to feed his child. Mixing corn and water, he puts this corn “milk” into his mouth and forming his lips into a protrusion (the child would have sensed to open for and suckle from) he fed his child by gently forcing the liquid out of his mouth and into his infant child's. It would appear this was a practice he knew well of… a practice, a knowledge, a tradition when the time called for such. Early 20th century Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) had memory of using gut sacks for bottles in earlier times… The gut was inserted with a large, hollow feather quill to act as the nipple. Presumably more methods and specialized vessels were employed in feeding nursing infants among many other Indigenous communities in the Eastern Woodlands.
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Formulas made of corn and water mixtures were well observed. While corn was certainly the most available food in agricultural Woodland communities, it was not the most nutritional. To the corn and water mixture were sometimes added other ingredients, like nuts. Walnut meats were boiled with the corn liquid, infusing the broth with protein, calcium, potassium, vitamin E, and omega-3 fatty acids, among other vitamins and minerals. Omega-3 fatty acids, a nutrient human bodies do not produce, play a vital part in brain function, as well as normal growth and development. Walnuts, hickory nuts, and other nuts were pounded and boiled, releasing their rich oil and giving the water a milky appearance as the nuts imparted it with its nutritional elements (see posts #22 & 23). Southern New England mothers added boiled squash to their walnut milk, and the Haudenosaunee fed sweet hickory oil to their growing infants.
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The Haudenosaunee also created baby food made of ground hickory nuts or butternuts to which powdered deer or bear meat was added (made by pounding dried meat), and the resulting meal cooked in water. Powdered dry meat meal was a usual staple of the Indigenous Peoples of the East, being added to soups, puddings, breads, and a main ingredient in the infamous staple pemmican; it was probably used in combination with other ingredients for baby food too.
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Further north, where corn was less relied on, another grain stood in: manoomin (wild rice). The Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), particularly in the most northern reaches of their territory where access to corn was limited, boiled finely ground wild rice meal with maple sugar to create a pap for babies.
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It would be hard to believe that any Indigenous family didn't have, didn't know, didn't make a substitute for breast milk to nourish their infants when the necessity called for such.
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Further Reading:
-"Indian New England Before the Mayflower" by Howard S. Russell
-"Parker on the Iroquois" by Arthur C. Parker
-"The Indian Peoples of Eastern America: A Documentary History of the Sexes" by James Axtell
-University of Maryland Medical Center. http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/omega-3-000316.htm#ixzz1syfGD68W
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In response (to some readers) who have pointed out wet nursing as the "obvious" answer...
Thank you for the comments... "This is often pointed out and has been noted to be done historically among some Native communities in history. However, and I should point this out for readers, it is just as important to note is that sometimes taboos warned against nursing children not born to oneself, or possibly not of the same clan (and taboos were/are serious business, as not following such could interfere negatively with the supernatural world responsible for the natural world, and therefore the human world),... in fact, some even felt that a woman having to feed more than one child at a single time was possibly even risky - a fear that she might not have enough to properly support the nutritious demands of the growing children. Some even warned that children made to share the same breasts would become overly competitive with each other in their adult life, which was frowned upon. And with that said, the opinion of twins has also varied widely between communities and time periods here in the Woodlands, from the "blessed" to possibly problematic. Partly for this reason, as noted, children were often purposely spaced by 3 or so years. The time as you can see having much to do with the breastfeeding of one child ending before a new child in born. With all this said, there were times a lactating woman may not be available, whether by distance or taboo, and with that, we have the accounts of how parents supported the nutrition of their infants with the same foods that nourished themselves. Indeed these women (and men) did take care of their babies... my favorite account is in fact of a man who made the formula for his infant child, and with his lips "blew" the nourishing substance into his baby's mouth to feed his child." -WIEP
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