Pierreconstant Budin

Vocation

French obstetrician who was a founder of modern perinatal medicine, and made many contributions in efforts to reduce infant mortality. He stressed the importance of proper nutrition and prevention of infectious disease in newborns, as well as education of new mothers on these subjects. Due to the problem of gastroenteritis in infants caused by contaminated cow's milk, Budin was a major proponent of breastfeeding, and believed in a substitution of sterilized milk if natural nutrition failed. He also popularized a technique known as gavage for feeding premature infants who were too weak to receive nourishment by conventional methods. He was the author of Le nourrisson: alimentation et hygiène - enfants débiles, enfants nés à terme (1900), a book that was later translated into English as The Nursling. The feeding and hygiene of premature and full-term infants (1907). He died on 22 January 1907, aged 60, in Marseille. Link to Wikipedia biography