1
The word wet nurse, we are not strangers. Of course, we have heard the word wet mother, most of them are related to the emperor, most of the emperors in history have a wet mother!
In fact, it is not easy to be a wet nurse, especially a wet nurse in the court. Regarding how to choose a wet nurse, Puyi revealed it in the book "The First Half of My Life" written by him.
The nurse must go through layers of screening, if the palace has this requirement, there are many applicants. Whether these people are suitable or not has standards. For example: What is the nutritional content of milk? This is important, and also, is the family background like this? What is the level of body appearance? What is the age stage?
2
These are all strictly regulated, and only all those who are qualified can be eligible to be elected to the imperial palace. Although it is said that when they enter the palace, they can make a lot of money. However, it also means that they have given up their right to raise their own children, after all, only women who have given birth to children will have milk.
There were even some people who entered the palace as nurses, and in order to feed the prince, their children starved to death without milk to drink. Even if something like this happens, they don't know it. After all, if such a thing happened, the news would be blocked.
When they returned home and were fired, they realized that the child they had had was gone. Perhaps, this is the price they have to pay as a wet nurse!
So if you think that being a wet nurse and serving the nobles is a very happy thing, then you must be wrong.
3
It can be said that their suffering is difficult to understand. After all, the child who is fed does not necessarily cry at any time, no matter when, as long as you are on duty, you must accompany him.
The key is that as a nursing mother, what you eat cannot be salted, all in order to ensure the nutrition of the milk. Eating foods that don't taste salt all day is not a good day.
Whether it is in the royal family or other aristocratic families, this is the rule.
In fact, as nurses, they don't just feed their children. Their milk is also eaten by adults, especially the elderly in the royal family or the noble family. These people have no teeth, and if they want something nutritious, milk is the best choice.
4
Zhang Cang of the Han Dynasty lived for 104 years, in fact he had no teeth in his 90s. The reason why they can live so big is because they have several nurses at home!
It was these wet nurses who extended his life!
Therefore, after the nursing mother is selected, she not only takes on the responsibility of feeding the child, but also provides services if the adults have needs, which is their responsibility.
Of course, the general people who hire wet nurses, they will not hire one. Basically, there are several of them, and these nurses are not very old and have a first-class figure.
Seemingly glamorous work is actually full of all kinds of hardships.
The Puyi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, when he was seven or eight years old, he was still inseparable from his mother and had to eat milk. And Puyi and his wet nurse have a very deep affection!
This is not difficult to understand, after all, he was carried into the palace by Cixi when he was 3 years old, and he had no one to rely on, and he could only rely on his mother for his life. He was also the best for his wet nurse when he grew up.
5
There is also Cixi of the Qing Dynasty, and it is said that the secret of her longevity is also related to drinking human milk. In ancient times, as long as the elderly nobles, their demand for human milk was very large.
Therefore, the demand for wet nurses in ancient times was not small.
Even now, we are inseparable from milk, but we are now replaced by milk, but it is undeniable that human milk is more valuable than milk.
The position of nurse also ended with the end of the feudal monarchy. Now that we have children, most of us choose to feed formula. Often, the richer the family, the more they let their children eat milk powder. Of course, what is more important is that now there is no one to hire a nurse, and there is no profession of nurse.
References: Zizhi Tongjian, The First Half of My Life