White Blood explores the history and benefits of human milk, a natural food source that most people take for granted. Human milk nourishes babies from the moment they are born, providing them with all the nutrients they need for growth and development in their early months. Yet the debate on ‘breast versus bottle’ continues, especially in countries where breastfeeding rates continue to decline. Written by a paediatrician, nutritional scientist and gastroenterologist with an interest in history, White Blood is far more than just a reference book looking at how milk is made in the human body. Using research and quotes from leading physicians, historians and social historians, this fascinating book shows how human milk has been crucial to infant health, growth and survival over the centuries. It’s beautifully illustrated with pictures – colour artifacts, paintings and photographs – from ancient civilisations to the present day. This book explores the vital question of ‘why breastfeeding matters?’ and taught me a lot!
White Blood is a history of human milk and tells the story of how babies have been fed from antiquity to modern times and why it matters. 'Breast is Best' is the popular mantra, but there is a perennial debate about the pros and cons of 'breast and bottle'. White Blood explores this vital question, which has implications for the health and wellbeing of mothers, their young, families, communities and even countries. Starting in Ancient Greece and Rome, where human milk was thought to be blood diverted from the womb to the breast and there whitened and vivified, it lets the voices of those concerned with the care of newborn infants, and those who followed them, speak across the centuries of how they were, and should best be, nourished.
Lawrence Trevelyan Weaver is a paediatrician, nutritional scientist and gastroenterologist whose interests have turned to history. Now Emeritus Professor of Child Health and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for the History of Medicine of the University of Glasgow, he spent much of his professional life thinking about human milk, caring for babies with feeding problems, and researching the gut disorders caused by what they were fed.
