Maternity wards and first feeding in the “old” island colonies of the French Empire (1882-1946)

Discover the seventh session of the seminar “Regards croisés sur la petite enfance” 2024-2025: "Maternity wards and first feeding in the “old” island colonies of the French Empire (1882-1946)".

The seminar looks at early childhood as a social, historical and cultural construct. Theories and knowledge relating to the conception, birth and development of children are analyzed in terms of their interactions with their environment and gender norms. Against this backdrop, the seminar will explore the boundaries of this age category and address the question of its temporality according to medical, international, anthropological or historical standards.

This presentation looks at the medicalization of pregnancy, childbirth and first feeding in three “old” insular French colonies (Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Réunion), in the post-slavery and post-engagement period, up to the departmentalization of these territories in 1946. Medicalization was seen as a response to the high stillbirth rate and infant mortality, and to the assimilationist expectations of the new local elites.The inter-war years saw a significant shift from home births to the new hospital structures and dispensaries able to accommodate parturients. Stillbirths began to decline significantly. This period also saw the introduction of milk supplementation for infants, with the export of new cow's milk packaging and the organization of “milk drops” based on a lighter, decentralized model on Reunion Island.

• Thierry Buhé: medical doctor and PhD student in Contemporary History at Paris Nanterre University, IDHE.S