Inventing Baby Food:Gerber and the Discourse of Infancy in the

United States

By Amy Bentley

“Artificial” Infant Feeding in the Nineteenth Century

• 95 percent of children were breast-fed in the preindustrial western world.

• Only a small percentage were dry nursed or fed mixtures of boiled flour and animal milk

– Those that were dry-nursed usually had inadequate nutrition or poisoning from contaminated water or milk that wasn’t properly preserved.

• The weaning from breast milk was a process that took months or years and depended on the development of the child

• During the middle of the nineteenth century, women started passing around recipes and pamphlets on formulas to use during weaning.

• These pamphlets often recommended that a child continue nursing until 12-16 months.– It was thought that cereals or meats should be

introduced only when teeth begin to appear– When this occurs, food must be thin gruel, broth,

and juice mixtures.

• Fruits and vegetables were thought to be best introduced after the age of two or three.– There were theories that eating fruit caused fevers, severe diarrhea

and dysentery, and cholera– This is mainly because of the poor water quality the fruits were

around– Bacteria also surrounded the outside of the fruit and there was not

proper washing of produce before consumption.

“The growing creature requires food that contains the elements of the body… food that abounds in albumen, fibrine, gelatine, and the earthy salts”

“What substances do we find richest in the constituents of perfect food? Flesh, milk, eggs and wheat bread”-Joseph B. Lyman and Laura E. Lyman1867 food guide

• The late Nineteenth Century– Improvements in stoves

and ice boxes allowed for longer food storage

– More variety in diet caused by canned foods• These were less expensive

in earlier years• Nutrition improved

– Advertisements took off• More circulation of

magazines and newpapers• Higher populations and

literacy rates

• Doctors and the sciences surpassed traditional knowledge and midwives and wet nurses became less used

• Science created strict parenting techniques that went against parental instincts– Feeding children complicated “percentage” formulas– Strict feeding schedules– Not picking up crying children

• They did tell parents that unless there were difficulties in breast feeding their children, they should not use formula– Lack of cows and fresh milk in the cites

• There also became middlemen between doctors and parents– Home Economics Experts

sometimes acted as nutritionists and gave parenting advice in pamphlets and articles

• Recommended swabbing and rinsing an infant’s mouth after every feeding as well as soaking a woman’s breast in boric acid solution before and after nursing.

• Establishment of many different brands of formula called “proprietary foods” for babies that were sold in drug stores– Leibeg’s Food– Nestle’s Milk Food– Carnrick’s Soluable Food– Eskay’s Albumenized Food– Imperial Granum: Wells, Richardson, and Company’s Lactated

Food– Wagner’s Infant Food– Mellin’s Food– Borden’s Eagle Brand Condensed Milk

• Flora Rose of Cornell University’s Home Economics Department“Perhaps the strongest case against the patent foods

is their lack of the food-stuff known as mineral matter or salts, which is so essential to healthy growth and development. Many cases of malnutrition result directly from the use of such of these foods as are deficient in fats and mineral matter. A common ailment amoung babies thus fed is rickets, and ailment that is serious and may be lasting in its effects.”

Women and Infant Feeding in the Pre-Gerber Twentieth Century

• There was a larger role of fruits and vegetables in an infants diet.– Mineral Salts were found to be vitamins that were

helpful for infants– During the Great War, the army introduced canned

vegetable and fruit provisions to keep men healthy.• Solids were introduced after six months of age or

older.– Barley-flour-and-water with diluted orange juice

between six and nine months

Carlotta C. Greer’s recommendation for an infants diet introduction

1928 Foods and Home Making• A teaspoonful of orange juice introduced at three weeks• Cereals at five to six months• Vegetable at six months• Toast at seven months• Egg yolks at twelve months

• Broths and gruel mixtures were now thought to be outdated and no longer the best way to introduce children to food

Gerber: Creation Narratives and Icon

• 1927 Mr. and Mrs. Dan Gerber developed and marketed their strained vegetables and fruits along with the company’s other canned foods.

• The Fremont Canning Company changed its name to Gerber Products Company and then only made baby food.– First pureed fruits and vegetables– Then cereals– Lastly chopped meals for toddlers

• 1930 the company produced 842,000 cans• 1931 the company produced 1,311,500 cans• 1932 the company produced 2,259,818 cans– Became more affordable

• Early 1930’s the company invested in an icon– Drawn by Dorothy Hope Smith– Rough charcoal sketch was accepted– Sold copies of it for 10 cents

The Naturalization of Gerber: Decline of Breast-Feeding, Earlier Introduction of Solids

• 1950’s the average age for foods to be fed to infants was four to six weeks– Some doctors thought women should give

children strained vegetables within days of birth

Ad campaigns• To combat doubts over the safety of canned

foods despite the Pure Food and Drug Law, Ad campaigns were launched– Convincing the Dieticians• Late 1920’s Gerber placed full page ads in the Journal

of the American Dietetics Association (ADA)– Promoted the way it was packaged safely– Promoted the nutrition it offered

– Convincing mothers» Important because it was sold directly to mothers and not

grocers» Ads placed in women’s magazines like the Ladies Home

Journal with over one million subscribers» “For Baby’s Sake, Stay Out of the Kitchen!” -1933

• “They’re the finest vegetables Baby can eat- and Baby deserves the best!”

» Focused on relationships with husband

July 1950

• Ads directly and indirectly advocated earlier introduction to baby foods– Ads suggested use at 3 months or earlier• Clapp’s Baby Cereal• Libby Baby Food

– Baby couldn’t hold its head up– Caption read “Hurry, Mother, it’s Libby time!”

– Contrast to the six months or older the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests

– The logo itself has a child on it that is younger than 6 months

Benefits to Breast Feeding

• Late twentieth century studies have shown that infants gastrointestinal tract cannot receive anything but breast milk or its equivalent

• When foods are introduced too early it can put stress on the kidneys• Breast milk provides key enzymes, antibodies, and hormones that are

needed to regulate an infants body• Children who are breast fed experience fewer incidences of diarrhea,

bacterial and viral illnesses, food allergies, ear infections, and even cancer.

• Ideally children should be breast fed for their first year with some introduction to solid foods after six to eight months.

• The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends continuing to breast feed until the child reaches two.

Manufacturing the idea of baby food

• Despite the natural benefits to nursing and the consequences of introducing solid foods too early, why do we continue to use solid baby foods?

• How is our thinking flawed? Why do we no longer value our old knowledge?

• Is it a good idea that businesses and the medical field be so closely linked?