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Neonatal care and breastfeeding in medieval Persian literature

Mother breastfeeding a baby in the presence of the father. Detail from the sarcophagus of Marcus Cornelius Statius, who died as a young child. Marble, Roman artwork, ca. 150 AD.  Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen Neonatal care and breastfeeding in medieval Persian literature: Hakim Esmail Jorjani (1042-1137AD) and the Treasure of King Khwarazm: A Review

By Mohammad Yazdchi et al.

Life Science Journal, Vol.10:1 (2013)

Abstract: Exploring the realm of sciences and challenging the ideas, traditional medicine has always been a medium for developing medical purposes, relieving illnesses and improving quality of life. Hakim Jorjani (1042-1137 AD) compiled his comprehensive 750,000-word textbook of medicine, Zakhireyei Khwarazmshahi (The Treasure of Khwarazm Shah) which is considered as the oldest medical encyclopedia written in Persian. Written in circa 1112 AD, the Treasure has been ranked along with Avicenna’s the Canon of Medicine and Haly Abbas’s the Liber Regalis. Six chapters of the Treasure (third book) include notes on neonatal care and breastfeeding. The present article is a review of the Jorjani’s teachings on the neonatal care, breastfeeding, weaning and teething along with comparisons between the Treasure and modern medicine in this regard.

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Introduction: Traditional medicine, owing its origin to the earliest interpretations of magic and divine events, has been formed based on the transferred knowledge between physicians over the centuries and gradually evolved by mechanical views derived from observations or experimentations. Exploring the realm of sciences and challenging the ideas, traditional medicine has always been a medium for developing medical purposes, relieving illnesses and improving quality of life. We undoubtedly owe these achievements to many countries including Egypt, Greece, Persia, India, China, etc. Herein, we introduce teachings of the 11th – 12th century Persian physician, Seyed Esmail Jorjani (Known as Hakim Jorjani). His major book, the Treasure of King Khwarazm, contains an extensive discourse on neonatal care reflecting medical knowledge of his era. In the present article we present translation of an excerpt from the discourse to introduce Hakim Jorjani’s advice on the neonatal care.

Click here to read this article from Life Science Journal

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