In honour of World Breastfeeding Week 2016 (a day late – but better late than never!), here is a small collection of vintage public-domain images of women nursing their babies, from the British Library Labs and Internet Archive images collections.
An unusual instance of a breastfeeding mother being pictured in an advertisement – from 1918. (Source)A cheerful-looking mother and baby – 1903 (Source)A reproduction of “Maternité” by Victor Dupont, from a 1920s art magazine (Source)Reproduction of “Mother and Child” by Jean Marchand, also from International Studio (Source)Breastfeeding with a view: an image by 16th century German engraver Barthel Beham (Source)
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An 1871 copy of an image from a medieval manuscript. (Source)Breastfeeding out and about, from the satirical Adventures of Dr. Comicus, published around 1825 (Source)Finally, a rather tired-looking mother pictured as an illustration to the ballad “The Scotch Lasse’s Constancy” (source)
An honourable mention must also go to Gillray’s 1796 “The Fashionable Mamma“, which I thought I had a copy of, but which seems is not the case. This is probably meant to be cruelly satirical, but I’m actually quite impressed by the very practical outfit the pictured mother is wearing!
The Sea of Books 
