Dr Judy Bolger recently presented her research on the medicalisation of infant feeding in twentieth-century Irish workhouses at the COST Action 22159 Conference on National, International and Transnational Histories of Healthcare, 1850–2000, held at the School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin. The conference formed part of the wider Negotiating Care: Health Systems & the Social Contract workshop, which brought together international scholars exploring the historical development of healthcare systems and practices.
Dr Bolger’s paper examined how infant feeding practices in Irish workhouses became increasingly medicalised during the twentieth century, highlighting the changing relationship between healthcare professionals, institutional care, and the lives of mothers and infants. Her research contributes to a growing body of scholarship investigating the social and cultural histories of healthcare in Ireland and beyond.
The two-day international workshop was organised under COST Action 22159 – European Histories of Healthcare and provided an important forum for interdisciplinary discussion on the historical evolution of healthcare policies, systems and experiences across national and transnational contexts.