324 MEDICAL SECTION 



THE WET-NURSE PROBLEM. 

 BY FRITZ B. TALBOT, M.D. 



Chief of Children's Medical Department, Massachusetts General Hospital, Visiting Physician 

 to Boston Floating Hospital, Assistant in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, 



THE wet-nurse problem, at first sight, seems simple 

 and separate from the other social problems which 

 come to our attention. On closer study, however, 

 it is found to be connected with many of the great 

 problems of the day, such as that of infant mortality, 

 the social question, and the problem of illegitimate 

 children. 



The phase of the wet-nurse problem which interests 

 the practising physician most is ''how can a wet-nurse 

 be obtained quickly?" Wet-nurses are used exten- 

 sively, both in hospital work and private practice, 

 in the United States : for example, out of eighty 

 physicians 1 who answered a circular letter sent to 

 them by the writer, only eight did not use wet-nurses 

 at all. Most of the seventy-two remaining physicians 

 used six or more a year and one has used in his 

 private practice an average of twenty-five a year for 

 the past two and a half years. Breast-milk is often 

 necessary to save a baby's life and in such instances 

 must be obtained quickly. The writer has travelled 

 many miles and spent many hours in the past hunting 

 for wet-nurses. This time was wasted in many 

 instances and it seemed to him that if some central 

 agency or directory could be established it would 

 serve the double purpose of bringing the demand and 

 supply together. It was found, on inquiry, that an 

 attempt had been made in the year 1900 to have wet- 

 nurses registered at the Directory for Trained Nurses in 

 Boston, but that none had ever registered. This 

 attempt was unsuccessful, as have been other similar 



1 Evenly divided among pediatricians and general practi- 

 tioners. 



