Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

The art of breastfeeding

Bojana Cokić
Zajecar, Serbia

 

Breastfeeding is the greatest and most precious gift of nature that a mother can give to her child. It is the foundation of life, a healthy start strengthening the bond between mother and child. The mother feels warmth and love when she embraces her child. The child feels serenity, joy, and warmth when she kisses her mother. Breastfeeding has inspired artists for centuries, dating as far back as ancient Egypt and continuing into modern times.

 

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Capitoline Wolf, Traditional scholarship says the wolf-figure is Etruscan, 5th century BC, with figures of Romulus and Remus added in the 15th century AD by Antonio Pollaiuolo
Isis Nursing Horus, Louvre – Egyptian antiquity  The Birth of the Milky Way, Peter Paul Rubens,
1636-1637, Madrid, Museo del Prado

 

Gypsy Woman with Baby, Amedeo Clemente Modigliani, 1919, National Gallery of Art Diego Rivera, Motherhood, Angelina and the Child Diego, 1916, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil

 

 

 

References

  1. Lönnerdal B. Human Milk: Bioactive Proteins/Peptides and Functional Properties. Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser. 2016 Jun 23;86:97-107.
  2. Colacci M1, Murthy K1, DeRegnier RO1, Khan JY1, Robinson DT1. Growth and Development in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants After the Introduction of Exclusive Human MilkFeedings. Am J Perinatol. 2016 Jun 20.
  3. Lönnerdal B1. Bioactive Proteins in Human Milk: Health, Nutrition, and Implications for Infant Formulas. J Pediatr. 2016 Jun;173 Suppl:S4-9.
  4. Yurdakök M1. Neonatal medicine in ancient art. Turk J Pediatr. 2010 Mar-Apr;52(2):218-26.
  5. Sulović V, Pavlović B. The cult of breast feeding in Serbian medical, sacral and folk historiography. Srp Arh Celok Lek. 1994 Sep-Oct;122(9-10):305-7.

 


 

BOJANA COKIĆ, MD, is a pediatrician specialized in clinical genetics at the Children’s Hispital in Zajecar, Serbia where she was Head of the Department of Pediatrics from 1986 to 2004 and now Head of the Neonatology Service since 2007. In 1992 she introduced a registry for congenital anomalies and in 2009 she established the Association for Downs Syndrome in Zajecar.

 

Highlighted in Frontispiece Volume 9, Issue 4 – Fall 2017
Summer 2016  |  Sections  |  Art Flashes

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