Drop of Milk

The 19th century is a period in which many scientific discoveries took place, the industry developed, and infant nutrition changed with the differentiation of mothers' attitudes and behaviors towards breastfeeding. In addition, modern states have begun to accept the population as an element that creates value on its own and needs to be protected with health policies. In that century, European medicine used statistical evidence to clarify one of its greatest social problems, infant mortality. Statisticians emphasized that a large percentage of deaths occurred in infant of low socio-economic class families. These infants were losing their lives due to a number of diseases. The most common illness were gastro-intestinal diseases, followed by respiratory system and nervous system diseases. All findings pointed to problems with infant feeding and milk used. In line with the desire to reduce infant mortality, "Goutte de Lait" ("Drop of Milk") was founded by Dr. Léon Dufour in France in 1894. In addition to providing mothers with modern training of infant care, the institution also provided access to healthy milk for infants who did not have access to breast milk. In Turkey, Drop of Milk was founded for the first time in 1922 by the French Ladies Association – French Red Cross. Drop of Milk, which was donated to the Turks with all its materials after the Treaty of Lausanne, continued its activities as an organization affiliated to The Turkish Association for Protection of Children. Drop of Milk, which gained importance in the way modern Turkey set out to prevent high infant mortality, spread to many cities of the country. This thesis aims to address with the emergence of the Drop of Milk, which was established to protect infant health and reduce infant mortality, its arrival in Turkey and its activities with a historical approach.