Wet Nurse or Milk Bank? Evolution in the Model of Human Lactation: New Challenges for the Islamic Population

Abstract

(1) Introduction: The establishment of milk banks in the Islamic world as well as donation to Islamic families in Western countries remains a challenge in the context of human lactation. Religious reservations established since the Qur’an and regulated at the legal–religious and medical level equate milk kinship with consanguinity, which prevents donation. The aim of the study was to analyse the evolution in the model of breastfeeding and care in Islamic society. (2) Methods: The methodology of comparative history was applied, following the structural–dialectical model of care. Historical manuals, articles and databases were analysed. (3) Results: Paediatric care in medical manuals from the 10th–15th centuries is similar to that practiced by the Muslim population today, some beneficial, some harmful; the wet nurse had to follow a series of dietary habits and have a series of physical, moral and educational characteristics in order to be hired. They constituted a beginning of pseudo-professionalisation, in a domestic–family framework. Human milk was used as a remedy for different health problems. (4) Conclusions: Islamic society and nursing have to evolve towards transnational care adapted to the needs of the population.