분유 없던 시절 +379 [4]

사진은 1927년이구요. 그 시절엔 엄마가 젖 못 먹이는 상황이 되면 염소 젖 먹게 했대여. 농가니까 병원도 주위에 없고. 소젖은 소화가 안되고 그나마 염소젖이 모유랑 비슷해서 이렇게 했대여.

The image you see is from 1927. In it, a newborn child is fed directly by a goat (or perhaps a shorn sheep). And while it may seem strange to us today, in its time it was an act of survival.

Before formula, nearby hospitals, or milk banks, many families resorted to whatever was on hand. Cow's milk was difficult for babies to digest. But goat's milk... it was different. Softer. Closer to human milk. And often the only option when a mother couldn't breastfeed.

An anonymous testimony summed it up this way:

"My mother was fed by a goat. She was born in 1942, two months premature, in the countryside, with no hospital or telephone. A neighbor had a nursing goat. Mom says she's strong because she was raised on goat's milk... and inherited its character."