The Book of Rites stipulates that the sons of the Sons of Heaven, princes, and doctors are eligible to be fed by nursing mothers, and the sons of scholars must be fed by their mothers themselves. It can be seen that in ancient times, only nobles were qualified and capable of hiring nursing mothers, especially in the court, the selection of nursing mothers was very strict, and there were regulations on age, appearance, health, milk thickness and color, etc. Once selected, their clothing and diet had to obey the arrangements in the palace. In ancient times, nurses were very embarrassed, and in addition to feeding babies, they had to provide this service for their families
In ancient China, the status of women was very low, and the girls of ordinary people's families would often be sold to rich people as handmaidens, and they would marry when they were fifteen or sixteen years old, and when the master's family had a child born, the host family would select the bridesmaids who had just given birth to children to feed their own children, which is the origin of the nurses. Because the mistress of a rich man's house does not feed her own milk. They are worried about their own appearance, or they may be pregnant as soon as possible, so that the family can inherit, because feeding children will affect the speed and quality of fertility. In ancient times, the nurse was too embarrassed, in addition to feeding the baby, she also needed to provide "special services" for the owner.
There is no way, in order to make more money for themselves, the ancient nurses often feed the children of the master's family first, and then feed their own children, but in general, their children will not be able to drink milk, there is no way, their children can only drink rice soup or hunger.
Because giving birth to a child is no less than a trip to the ghost gate for the ancients. Because giving birth to a child is a high-risk thing, generally after the hostess gives birth to a child, she must undergo a big dissonance to give birth, and will not use her own milk to feed her child, even if she can safely give birth to a child, basically the vitality is almost consumed. Even with milk, it is very little.
In general, in the ancient aristocratic family, the nurse was responsible for feeding the children of several years old, so the ancient men had inseparable feelings for the special group of the milk mother, and in their hearts, the status of the milk mother was second only to the birth mother. However, on the other hand, the nurse is also very embarrassed, but also to provide "special services" to the hostess, that is, to leave milk for the hostess, that is, because breast milk has the effect of beautifying the face, the hostess in order to get more grace from the host, for the beauty of the face is very important, so their own milk and the milk of the milk are all used by themselves. It is even less likely to be left to one's own children.