Why is breastfeeding called nursing?

Question

patois · Accepted Answer

Modern English Nursing = Middle English English Nurshen. They drank more beer back then...

1530s, "to suckle (an infant), nourish at the breast;" 1520s in the passive sense, "to bring up" (a child); alteration of Middle English nurshen, norishen "to supply with food and drink, feed; bring up, nurture" (c. 1300; see nourish), in part by influence of nurse (n.1). From 1540s as "promote growth or vigor in, encourage." Sense of "tend to in sickness or infirmity" is recorded by 1736. Related: Nursed; nursing.

OlderAndWiser · Accepted Answer

Etymology

Noun: Middle English norice, norce, nurse, from Anglo-French nurice, from Late Latin nutricia, from Latin, feminine of nutricius nourishing — more at NUTRITIOUS

Verb: Middle English nurshen to suckle, nourish, contraction of nurishen

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nurse

Saggitariusdiva · Accepted Answer

It may have come from the fact that wealthy people hired nurses to feed their babies. However, most likely Americans were probably too uptight to say the word breast. On our television shows the term pregnant wasn't even used until the 1970s.  The word "nurse" originally came from the Latin word "nutrire", meaning to suckle, referring to a wet-nurse; only in the late 16th century did it attain its modern meaning of a person who cares for the infirm.  What is a breastfeeding woman called? 
  'nursing mother

HelpfulWoman · Accepted Answer

apparently the taboo of saying "breast" -

Static_In_The_Attic · Answer

You can call it human milk feeding instead.

CrazyGirl2 · Answer

I think the confusion comes about Because the word nurse (as in an RN) came from nursing a baby, meaning "to take care of” not the other way around. Medical nurses have only been a thing since 1860, when Queen Victoria gave Florence Nightingale one million pounds to open the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas' Hospital in London to teach medical nursing as a real profession, after the end of the Crimean war.

Wet Nurses existed in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire, and fed the children of women who could not lactate, and wealthy women who did not want to breast feed! In fact in Old English, the word "nurse" (from the Latin "nutrix," meaning "nourisher") referred to a woman who provided nourishment and care to a child. Over time, the term expanded to include the act of breastfeeding itself. So, when we refer to "nursing" a baby today, we're using a term that reflects both the act of breastfeeding and the broader concept of caring for an infant.

Again, the confusion comes about because we mostly think of nurses as being medical professionals today so ubiquitously that we often find it strange to use the term nurse for anything else. But medical nurses got their name from wet nurses not the other way around.

I hope this helps.
Laura 🤗 🥰 .

Sirenboobzilla · Answer

It comes from Latin. Also because of the use of wet nurses by the wealthy and royals. Breastfeeding was seen as something for commoners, so they employed wet nurses to do the job for them.

SaoirseS · Answer

Because the term nurse comes from the Latin word nutrire, which means to suckle.

FunkyMonkee · Answer

I don't know. That's NOT what they teach in nursing school!! And, BOY was I disappointed when I found THAT out!! All that money I wasted on those classes just to find out I WASN'T gonna get to see any naked tits in class!!

Apple1996 · Answer

I always assumed it was because kind of like a nurse it brought the baby into good health

Drewtate · Answer

Historically you had nursemaids. Other women that sometimes fed a baby say if the baby's mother died or couldn't breastfeed.

HawkPerception · Answer

If I had to guess, it's just because some people might be more uncomfortable with the term "breastfeeding." Nursing is just a more tactful.

CindyRuns · Answer

I've often wondered that myself !!! One of those things I've pondered while breastfeeding my two daughters !!!

hahahmm · Answer

Nursing literally means to take care of someone who needs help. Everything you do for an infant is a form of nursing, actually.

SugarSugarplum · Answer

Why is the study of weather called "meteorology"?

DaBiggestBird · Answer

Because you nurse your child to health and give them access to their true power. It’s like when Elder Guru from Dragon Ball Z unleashes your real potential.

MrDaveAPSI · Answer

The word "nurse" originally came from the Latin word "nutrire", meaning to suckle, referring to a wet-nurse; only in the late 16th century did it attain its modern meaning of a person who cares for the infirm.

jennifer_bloom · Answer

Because it sounds less sexual than breastfeeding and they want to give the act a clean term.

exitseven · Answer

I am not surecthis is true but way back in the olden days rich people would hire "wet nurses" To breastfeed their kids..

RingOfFire · Answer

🤔 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Not sure but if I'm the recipient it sure cures me! 🙂

LiamJHayden · Answer

The term is derived from the Latin word for "nourish."

nawtee_me · Answer

Because that is what it is called when animals do it too…….

IloveWinters · Answer

Nursing is more of less taboo word compared to breastfeeding

purplepoppy · Answer

Because it upsets men.

DishLady · Answer

The Latin root NUTRIO = to feed/nourish.

Tomisworthless · Answer

Why isn't nursing breastfeeding

jimmy2 · Answer

It feeding the child

Why is breastfeeding called nursing?

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