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On display

This item is on display at Melbourne Museum

Summary:: Circular metal rack with six babies' bottles used about 1929. Each bottle marked for 8 ounces or 16 tablespoons.

It appears that the bottles were stored upside down in the rack.

The Methodist Babies Home was opened in 1929. Babies, especially from the inner-city slums, were referred to the home through the Children's Court. From 1929 until the early 1970s the Home's role was to care for babies awaiting adoption. From 1974, the direct care of neglected babies was phased out in favour of family unit-based support services.

According to former nurses who worked at the Babies Home during World War II (who spoke with Elizabeth Willis), tomato sauce bottles were used to feed the babies because babies' bottles were almost unobtainable. The babies were placed on their sides in their cots, and the filled bottle with a rubber teat covered with flannel was propped up on a chaff-filled cushion so that the baby could reach the milk. The nurse then moved onto the next baby.
Description:: Circular metal rack for six babies' bottles. Each bottle marked for 8 ounces or 16 tablespoons.
Acquisition Information:: Donation from Copelen Street Family Services, 1989

Discipline:	History
Dimensions:	27.50 cm (Height), 19.50 cm (Width)

Tagged with:	bottles, orphanages
Themes this item is part of:	Methodist Babies Home, South Yarra, 1929-1970, Childhood & Youth Collection, Public Life & Institutions Collection
On Display at:	Melbourne Museum
Primary Classification:	DOMESTIC LIFE
Secondary Classification:	Child Rearing
Tertiary Classification:	feeding
Place & Date Made:	Victoria, Australia, 1929 or later
Place & Date Used:	Methodist Babies Home, South Yarra, Victoria, Australia, circa 1929-1970