One of my biggest nitpicks in fiction concerns the feeding of babies. Mothers dying during/shortly after childbirth or the baby being separated form the mother shortly after birth is pretty common in fiction. It is/was also common enough in real life, which is why I think a lot of writers/readers don’t think too hard about this. however. Historically, the only reason the vast majority of babies survived being separated from their mother was because there was at least one other woman around to breastfeed them. Before modern formula, yes, people did use other substitutes, but they were rarely, if ever, nutritionally sufficient.
Newborns can’t eat adult food. They can’t really survive on animal milk. If your story takes place in a world before/without formula, a baby separated from its mother is going to either be nursed by someone else, or starve.
It doesn’t have to be a huge plot point, but idk at least don’t explicitly describe the situation as excluding the possibility of a wetnurse. “The father or the great grandmother or the neighbor man or the older sibling took and raised the baby completely alone in a cave for a year.” Nope. That baby is dead I’m sorry. “The baby was kidnapped shortly after birth by a wizard and hidden away in a secret tower” um quick question was the wizard lactating? “The mother refused to see or touch her child after birth so the baby was left to the care of the ailing grandfather” the grandfather who made the necessary arrangements with women in the neighborhood, right? right? OR THAT GREAT OFFENDER “A newborn baby was left on the doorstep and they brought it in and took care of it no issues” What Are You Going to Feed That Baby. Hello?
Like. It’s not impossible, but arrangements are going to have to be made. There are some logistics.
ok I get what you’re saying about the trope in general, but, notably, the Moses story is actually one that explicitly addresses this:
[ID: Six screencaps from Taskmaster. Greg Davies quotes, “Lucy, ‘Best not to do Monet.’” Lucy Beaumont explains, “'Cause it’s got lots of little dots on it, hasn’t it? Lots of bits.” Greg says pensively, “I suppose. Especially as his eyesight was failing of course, as well.” Lucy asks, “Did he lose his ear?” Greg says, “No, different guy.” End ID.]
‘the doctor is confirmed queer now!’ 9 didnt flirt with harkness in 2005 and 10 didnt flirt with 1920s bad tennessee accent andrew garfield in 2007 for you to say this is the first time they’re queer on screen. however i do think its funny if all the previous doctors were bi but 14 is just a flat homosexual. shaun temple really took one look at them and thought fruit! there is absolutely no chance of this person making a move on my wife. and he was right
