Jessica Martucci, Doctoral Student, Departmentof History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 10:57 pm EDT
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Place: 2U Conference Room, Room 2019, Claire Fagin Hall
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Abstract. For most of the second-half of the 20th century, nurses and doctors were formally taught very little about how to successfully assist a mother with breastfeeding. Despite their lack of education, however, nurses were routinely left in charge of overseeing the feeding of newborns – whether they were bottle-fed or breastfed. In this talk, Martucci explores how nurses, as both women and healthcare professionals, positioned themselves as breastfeeding experts in the hospital and in the press.