Inventing Baby Food: Gerber and The Discourse of Infancy in the United States

1. Inventing Baby Food: Gerber and The Discourse of Infancy in the United States By: Amy Bentley

2. We’ll Explore • Origins of breast milk to formula to solid food • Timeline of formula to food change • Development of “Expert Knowledge” • Early Marketing of the Gerber Products Company

3. 100 Years of change from 19th century to mid 20th century • 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

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

5. Early 19th Century • 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 19th 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)

6. Forbidden Fruit • 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 • The fruit/vegetables are removed completely from infant ingestion until 2-3 yrs of age • While mixtures known as “liquids” are emphasized: gruel mixtures, beef broth, liquids. • Meats and cereals suggested during 1st year

7. Late 19th Century: Chemical Period • New dependency on science as authoritative figure about health and human life cycle • Doctors birthing children in hospital vs. homes • Doctors increased power in formulas for infants: “Parent instincts and common sense take a backseat to science” • Medicalization makes mom’s worried about their ability to produce nutritious breast milk for their child

8. Expert Advice • 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. • 1 tsp orange juice @ 3 weeks of age • Cereals @ 5-6 months • Vegetables @ 6 months • Toast @ 7 months • Egg Yolk @ 1 year

9. General Trend of Development • 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 19th 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

10. Gerber Makes its Move • 1920’s: changed opinions about vitamins, promotion of fruit and canned goods, introduction to advertising • WELCOME GERBER!! • Story of Gerber • 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

11. Gerber Perfects its Method • 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

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

13. Advertising: Gerber Pushes Solids Earlier • 1950’s women are bypassing nursing • Age of artificial foods and propriety food items • Same period as when Gerber comes out with strained vegetable/fruit • 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 • Gerber is now a substitute for breast milk

14. Advertising: Gerber Pushes Solids Earlier • 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

15. Gerber Gets On Board with Dieticians and Mothers • 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 • Conclusion • Gerber came at the right time and place • Doctors or mothers at fault? • “More must be better”