Recognition of biological needs

Historically, the recognition of biological needs comes before that of psychological ones. Food is the foremost biological need and breastfeeding is the universally recommended method. The children of the nobility were breastfed by wet-nurses who were carefully chosen, and girls were weaned before boys. As from the 17th century, mothers are considered the ideal people to breastfeed their own children. Girdling (with straps) was a common practice until the 17th century. It kept the infants warm, avoided injuries and allowed for an upright posture. This practice was eventually shown to be harmful as it produced physical and psychological effects. The evolution of children’s clothing, as from the 17th century, was conditioned by gender and social class. Girls continued to dress like adult women and only boys from richer families wore children’s clothes. Generally speaking, hygiene was rather neglected until well into the 19th century, although there were differences depending on social class. In 1498, Paolo Bagellardo published the first treatise on childhood diseases. But we must wait until the 19th century until there was a significant improvement in maternal-infant health. Until the 13th century, there are very few documents about sleep and rest guidelines. As from then, it was recommended that children should not sleep with their parents to prevent suffocation and crushing. Physical exercise was not considered necessary for a child’s development until well into the 19th century, which meant that until then there was a clear restriction of freedom of movement to avoid accidents.