Peruvian Wet Nurses

Latin London
23 hours ago
2 min read

The phrase “Peruvian wet nurses” usually refers to a little-known but striking historical practice from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tied to ideas about race, medicine, and colonial hierarchies rather than to Peru alone.

Here’s the story behind it.

What were “wet nurses”?

A wet nurse was a woman hired to breastfeed another person’s infant. This was common in many societies, especially among elites, before infant formula existed.

Why Peru?

In Europe and North America—especially in France, Britain, and the United States—doctors and elites developed a belief that:

Indigenous Andean women (often labeled broadly as “Peruvian”) were
- physically robust
- accustomed to high altitudes and hardship
- less prone to disease
Their breast milk was considered exceptionally nourishing and even medicinal

These beliefs were rooted in racialized pseudoscience, not real medical evidence.

How the practice worked

Some wealthy families imported women from Peru or the Andes to serve as wet nurses.
In other cases, the term “Peruvian wet nurse” was used symbolically or commercially, even when the woman wasn’t actually Peruvian.
Their milk was sometimes promoted as a cure for sickly or premature babies.
The women were often:
- poorly paid
- separated from their own children
- controlled by strict contracts

Colonial and racial context

This practice reflects:

Colonial exploitation of Indigenous women’s bodies
The idea that non-European bodies existed to serve European health and comfort
The belief that race determined biological usefulness

It parallels how enslaved African women were used as wet nurses in the Americas earlier.