Nanny, commonly known as wet nurse, has basically disappeared in modern times, but it was still a very popular and sought-after profession in ancient times hundreds of years ago. And friends may not believe that in ancient times, the status of wet nurses was also very high. For example, everyone should have seen the Water Margin. There is a passage in it in which Wu used classical and others to outwit the birth class and humiliated Yang Zhi, a blue-faced beast. Yang Zhi failed because Gao Qiu's son's nanny's husband was in it. From here, we can see that a nanny's husband can make an officer like Yang Zhi feel helpless, which shows how high the nanny's status is.

In addition, the ancient wet nurse was also a high-level occupation. In the Book of Rites compiled in the Western Han Dynasty, it was recorded that "the son of a gentleman has a mother." What do you mean? That is to say, as early as the Western Han Dynasty, the literati class had the habit of inviting a wet nurse to their children, and in our traditional "three fathers and eight mothers", the wet nurse was the eighth wet nurse (the so-called three fathers mean stepfathers who lived together, stepfathers who lived together, stepfathers who lived with their stepmother, that is, adopted; The eight mothers refer to the birth mother, stepmother, foster mother, loving mother, married mother, mother-in-law, common mother and wet nurse), which shows the respect of wet nurse's status.

I said so much just to show that the wet nurse has a high status, because there is no story behind her if she doesn't have a high status, so please forgive me. What role and significance does the nurse have besides breastfeeding the boss's children as everyone knows?

According to historical records,

A nurse is a child who specializes in nursing childless children.

That is to say, the wet nurse actually took care of the children who didn't have breast milk at first, but the reason why the wet nurse was invited later was because she had these functions.

First, protect your figure

Although I am not a professional medical staff, I understand at least that in ancient times, it was definitely a large family that could afford a wet nurse, and a large family certainly had more than one daughter-in-law, so concubines were essential. But if you lose your body or hurt your body because you want to breastfeed, it will undoubtedly push the male host into the arms of concubines, so the main office will ask the nurse to help you breastfeed, so as to keep your body in case the male host's heart is taken away by concubines.

Second, royal needs

The so-called royal needs are the special needs of those royal clans in ancient times. According to the author's research, in the Qing Dynasty, no matter whether the queen or the concubine gave birth to a child, they could not directly breastfeed themselves, so they had to hire a wet nurse, and it was an ancestral system that could not be changed for a hundred years. Why is there such a demand or requirement? Because the Qing Dynasty didn't say that the eldest son had to be made emperor, so every prince could become Chu Jun, but Chu Jun was most afraid of relying too much on his mother, or consorts.

Therefore, the royal family of the Qing Dynasty stipulated that the prince's biological mother could not breastfeed, in case the prince and his mother were so deeply attached that they depended on their consorts after they ascended the throne, thus adversely affecting the rule of the dynasty. Speaking of which, the author would like to add that the relationship between the ancient royal families is actually very chaotic, because the prince will definitely have physical needs, and the general maids are definitely not allowed, so many times the wet nurse will accompany the prince. After all, being a wet nurse at least shows that this person is in good health and has a good family. And the wet nurse has some experience, so everyone knows.

Third, beauty

According to the Secret Recipe of Qing Palace,

1.5g of human milk can dispel wind and clear heat, moisturize and whiten skin, and has the functions of clearing away heat and toxic materials and smoothing skin.

In order to verify this record, the author checked a lot of materials, among which a historical record called Miscellanies of Wan Department records:

According to the regulations of Qing Palace, every season, 4 milkmen are selected and a special room is set up for maintenance in the imperial palace, which is called Zuoxiu milkmen. Another 8 people, who were born in the palace, were specially supplied with food by the inner government, which was called Dianmao Milk Mouth, in order to make up for the shortage when there was an accident in the milk mouth. Every season, change a batch.