The middle classes were also using baby bottle to feed their babies, in America, by the 1920s.
And before the baby bottle came into being, those that could afford it, gave their babies over to wet nurses.
CORNING and other big glass manufacturers made baby bottles.
The Playtex bottles with that silly plastic liner thingy, weren't out until the late 1960s.
Victorian nannies and those who ran baby farms and sometimes very stupid mothers, used to give babies laudanum, to quite fussy babies and toddlers...now THAT really was MURDER; since the poor babies were often quieted to the point of death.
My grandmother told me that in from the mid 1800's on, breastfeeding was considered unsanitary, and the formula companies claimed their product was not only more sanitary, but also had more nutritional value for baby. "better living through science". She nursed because her mother did, and all the other ladies told her she should. I'm glad she did. My mom nursed in the 70's, and got a lot of *crap* from her friends for nursing and staying at home. That was not the way of the modern woman at that point. Most of my friends nurse our children to at least a year (all have tried, but there are always obstacles). We all stay at home, making sacrifices to do so. We all also hold Masters degrees or higher. Why? Because we feel that breast is best, we know that our children will be raised with our morals and values, not the daycare(ie state's).