By: Amy Bentley

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Origins of breast milk to formula to solid food
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Timeline of formula to food change
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Development of “Expert Knowledge”
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Early Marketing of the Gerber Products Company

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Industrialization
Mass production
Advertising of food supply
Changing consumption patterns
Discover and promotion of vitamins
Evolving notions of body and health
Science as ultimate authority
Medication of childbirth and infancy
Yielding the medical establishments increased prominence and power

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At age 4 months an infants gastrointestinal system can’t process anything but breast milk or the equivalent
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Earlier than this can cause stress on the kidney function
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Breast milk is considered the best option for infant ingestion because of the nutrients that assist in development

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Pre-industrial west: 95% of children were breast fed by mothers or wet-nurses
Other 5% by dry-nursing or “pap/panada” mixture of boiled flour, water or animal milk
Mid 19 th Century
Invention of advice manuals, infants still on breast milk mainly but a new integration of modified cows milk is introduced
Grandmother’s aphorism: “only milk until the eruption of molars
(12-16 months)

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Fruit/vegetables are discouraged from eating because of a folk tale idea that eating fruit made people, and children, feverish, and sick with severe diarrhea
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The fruit/vegetables are removed completely from infant ingestion until 2-3 yrs of age
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While mixtures known as “liquids” are emphasized: gruel mixtures, beef broth, liquids.
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Meats and cereals suggested during 1 st year

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New dependency on science as authoritative figure about health and human life cycle
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Doctors birthing children in hospital vs. homes
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Doctors increased power in formulas for infants:
“Parent instincts and common sense take a backseat to science”
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Medicalization makes mom’s worried about their ability to produce nutritious breast milk for their child

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Knowledge of vitamins
Fruits and vegetable suddenly prized, and pushed to be involved in infant diet
Issue of wanting more fruit and vegetables in the child’s diet but having to wait until 1 yr old
1928: Carlotta C. Greer, “Foods and Homemaking” says that vitamins and vegetables are must have a prominent place in infancy feeding. Suggests an earlier introduction of solid foods to the diet.
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1 tsp orange juice @ 3 weeks of age
Cereals @ 5-6 months
Vegetables @ 6 months
Toast @ 7 months
Egg Yolk @ 1 year

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A general trend of introducing solid foods, and weaning them off of a formula or milk was becoming more and more pronounced toward the end of the 19 th century
In the Cornell study in 1933, feeding practice of over 700 infants in upstate New York received an average of a late introduction to solids
In a couple of decades this average was much earlier

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1920’s: changed opinions about vitamins, promotion of fruit and canned goods, introduction to advertising
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WELCOME GERBER!!
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Story of Gerber
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So successful the Gerbers changed their old production line of vegetables to just baby food and renamed it from Fremont Canning Company to
Gerber Products Company

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First produces pureed foods
(strained)
Then line of cereals
Later, chopped produce and dinner combinations for older toddlers
In 1930: produced 842,000 cans of baby food
In 1931: 1,311,500 cans
In 1932: 2,259,818 cans
Only one competitor during this time frame: Clapps
1935 Gerber competes with
Beech-Nut, Heinz, Libby’s but stays on top

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Canned foods were becoming cheaper, and parents could afford to buy them
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Doctors and health officials were becoming more involved in children healthcare and advertising
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Working moms found processed food to be easier to manage
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Other inventions were being created to help women in the home: washing machines, refrigerators, diapers ect.

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1950’s women are bypassing nursing
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Age of artificial foods and propriety food items
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Same period as when Gerber comes out with strained vegetable/fruit
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Before 1950’s 7 months was the age in which infants should be introduced to vegetables/fruits, within next
10 yrs reduced to 4-6 months, by 1950 doctors were recommending 4-6 weeks
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Gerber is now a substitute for breast milk

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Through advertising, Gerber pushes Americans to trust
Gerber’s canning system
As Americans get used to advertising, Gerber introduces mass production, advertising of goods, memorable packaging and branding—this becomes the essential part of the package
Even the Gerber baby becomes an iconic symbol for how young a child should be to start eating solid foods

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Late 1920s-1930s Gerber starts advertising in the Journal of the American Dietetics Associate (ADA)
Slogans
1929: Gerber advertises to directly to women, allows Doctors to order products free of charge, and advertises to men about not having a wife who looks “worn and haggard” from having to be a slave to the kitchen or child
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Conclusion
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Gerber came at the right time and place
Doctors or mothers at fault?
“More must be better”