What does "Nurse Child" mean?

[mikehicks]

Is it not also true that some babies and small children were breast fed by the wet nurse and in fact the wet nurse's milk supply never "dried up" as she never stopped feeding hoards of children?

Bitty, anyone?

[JAP]

Hi Mike,

While it is true that Wet Nurses (i.e. women who breastfed other women's babies/small children) did exist, this can be very misleading in terms of the census term 'Nurse Child' (especially as persons designated as 'Nurse Child' can be of ages even into double figures).  Usually, as indicated on this thread and on other threads cross-referenced by Berlin-Bob, a Nurse Child was a child who was being fostered in some way or another i.e. was being looked after by a family other than the child's own family.

JAP

[Paul-Shrewsbury]

Am new to this so probably posting simple questions but . . . . What is somebody if listed on census as a "Nurse Child"?

Moderator Comment:  topics merged

[Arranroots]

Hi Paul

Welcome to Rootschat! 

A nurse child was sent to a wet-nurse if his mother couldn't or didn't want to nurse him herself.

Often they are very young, naturally, but sometimes they seem to stay with the foster family for a number of years, suggesting the mother is unable to care for the child at all, or is perhaps dead.

I hope this helps

kind regards, Arranroots 

[Paul-Shrewsbury]

Thanks for that, confirmed what I thought.  Still a little puzzled by the family group I'm looking at.  Mother being 55 and 3 nurse children under 5?  Hmmm.  Perhaps I'm judging by present day standards.

Thanks again.

Paul

[behindthefrogs]

You will also find that children who were born illegitimately into the middle and upper classes were sent into the country as nurse children.  A family would be paid a small annual amount to look after the child who was out of sight and out of mind.

They could well as in your case be a woman whose own family had grown up.  The wet nurse element often didn't come into the deal.

[Arranroots]

I agree that the children were not always actually being nursed, but neither were they of any particular class.

Working class children whose mother needed to work and was unsupported (or as previously mentioned, dead) were also sent to foster families.  The local Workhouse Guardians would pay for their care, but as BTF mentions, the sums involved were small and the care received would have differed from place to place.

I would be disinclined to make assumptions about the family background based on this.  Tracing the parents and establishing their circumstances is the best way forward.