For years, breast feeding one’s infant was considered to be the sine qua non for infant nutrition.

Why?  Because it reduces the likelihood of digestive problems and  rashes,  while it increases the immune potential of these little tykes.

So, why do some moms find lactation to be among the most difficult tasks to perform?

Some kids refuse to latch on mom’s breast nipple.  Or, if they do, then mom is subject to acute pain. Or, insufficient milk is produced by mom to satisfy the tyke.

Of course, big food companies (Nestle, for example) sell all sorts of infant nutrition to moms.  It’s a very lucrative business.

Since 1851, folks have been trying to offer formula to moms.  Why 1851?  That’s when the first feeding bottle was developed in France- with selective inlets that regulated air flow.  And, that’s when French moms abandoned breast feeding in droves.  Shortly thereafter, Justus von Liebig developed the first infant formula.  (Cow’s milk, wheat, malt flour, and potassium bicarbonate to hold the ingredients together.)

There has always been a conflict between what’s better for kids- breast fed children or infant formula fed children.  Right before World War II, 77% of infants were breast fed.  By 1972 (32 years later), that percentage was decimated- only 22% of American infants were being breast fed.  This was not truly a scientific reason driving the change- it was because women were entering the workforce over that period.

And, lactation rooms are not routinely offered women in the workforce, making it more difficult to develop sufficient breast milk stores to satisfy the tyke’s needs.

But, there are cadres of specialists (typically nurses who obtain additional training and knowledge) that serve as lactation consultants to moms.  (You do recall how Miriam proffered a lactation source to the Princess of Egypt, when she discovered infant Moses in a basket.)  Which is why some 84% of American infants are breast fed…except only ¼ of the infants are nurtured solely on breast milk for the first six months of their life.

But, then there’s folks like Leila Strickland, Ph.D.  A cell biologist, with her career initially at Stanford before she sidled into positions as a medical editor.  Who has toiled laboriously to create a lab grown breast milk.

Part of the problem is that breast milk is actually produced by  two separate types of cells.  In the milk ducts and alveoli, milk is stored in small sacs of the mammary gland. And, luminal epithelial cells absorb nutrients from the blood to convert them into milk. (There are also myoepithelial cells- kind of like muscles- which, when the infants begins sucking, these contract propelling the milk from the luminal cells, through the ducts, to the infant’s mouth.)

Strickland started her project using cow cells.  While not perfect, proving the concept was easier to do with udders. And, she realized (using cow udders) which surfaces yielded the healthiest cell division.  And, like many an inventor- she ran out of money.  So, the project remained on hiatus, until IndieBio- a biotech accelerator in San Francisco, provided $250K in support.  Except her team makeup was changing- so the accelerator offer was rescinded. But, then Bill Gates came to the rescue (Breakthrough Energy Ventures) with a $ 3.5 million grant.  That would certainly help Biomilq fight off the formula industry.

But, there are other contenders besides Biomilq.  TurtleTree Labs in Singapore is one such entity-  and it plans to hook up with the infant formula industry.  That may explain why they are creating fortifiers to add to the milk. Helaina (New York City) is producing breast milk via fermentation, using microbial cells- producing constituents (proteins, carbohydrates, and fats) to recombine into the nutritious synthetic breast milk.

And, then there’s a very simple, very fundamental problem.  We basically know bupkus about breast milk.  Sure, we know about the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats- but not many of the complex sugars (oligosaccharides), antibodies, or lipases (fat digesting enzymes).  And we haven’t characterized the short strands of RNA found in breast milk.

Then, there’s the fact that mom’s breast milk changes in composition as the child develops.  At first, mom produces colostrum (thick, yellow, concentrated milk laden with antibodies and compounds to impart immunity to the child).   Then, “transitional milk”- thinner, but with more fat and lactose.  Shortly thereafter, mom’s milk is considered to be mature.

That’s why Biomilq figures they have at least two years of research to develop a formula.

We’re waiting…