] Three months seems rather early for weaning.

Age of weaning can vary enormously, and three months is old enough for a baby to start to ingest and digest slosh.

Come to think of it, perhaps Mrs Austen was unusual in suckling her babies herself in those days. I thought that it was all that Rousseau back-to-nature movement that encouraged gentlewomen to breastfeed, and that was somewhat later. Do we see Mrs Austen as a premature Rousseauist?

Linden

who acknowledges her fault of referring only to Mrs Austen in the post that started this thread, but considers that we may be excused for forgetting Mr Austen on the topic of breast-feeding.