Mamels life animal

Allo-Mother’s Milk discussed cultural, historical, and evolutionary perspectives of allo-mother’s milk. Here the story continues… Right now numerous entities are developing a “milk” supply for clinical intervention. Examples of this endeavor are Prolacta and the non-profit Human Milk Bank Association of North America . One critically important application for donor milk is that it reduces the risk of necrotizing entercolitis in NICU babies. A recent meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials revealed that premature babies that consumed commercial formula were 4 times more likely to develop this dangerous infection than premature infants that consumed donor milk (Ben et al. 2012). These "milk" supply efforts rely on donated milk from women screened for heath and lifestyle. After donation, milk undergoes processing to make it safer (e.g. pasteurization). These processes, while important for protecting the recipient, can also neutralize some of the beneficial bioactive co...

Wait, what?  Yes, women other than the mother provide breast milk for babies. Throughout human history and across cultures there are numerous documented practices of allo-maternal nursing.  Within Islamic culture, there is the practice of “ milk kinship .” This is a cultural construct of a familial relationship, analogous in many ways to “god-parents” among Catholics. In such instances infants are nursed by a woman not their mother, and consider her biological children “milk brothers” and “milk sisters.” In this way life-long social bonds are established and maintained throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. And these relationships are in place in the event of the death of the biological parents (Parkes 2005). Wet-nursing was a prevalent practice before the advent of commercial formula. Throughout the Renaissance and into the early 20 th Century, poor women were hired to nurse the infants of wealthy women. Physiologically the period of lactation, especially early and...

Last week, I was interviewed by Desiree Schell on Skeptically Speaking , a radio show out of Edmonton , Canada.  The program originally aired on Mother’s Day, but th e podcast can now be streamed or downloaded here . We had a great time talking about functional development of the mammary, whether or not breast milk is that much better than formula, agenda-driven science, wet-nurses and allo-maternal nursing, misconceptions about breast-feeding, and the social contract of science funding. Good times!  Following my interview,  Kayt Sukel , author of Dirty Minds , is interviewed about the neurobiology of parenting. Check check check it out! Also here is a belated "YAY Mothers and Allo-Mothers!"  (FYI check out Kate Clancy's allo-mother  post )! I am pretty sure that this must be an artist’s representation  of my mother and a baby me.  UPDATE: If you don't have time to listen to the podcast, the interview got an awesome write up here with...

Today is the last day to submit abstracts for the 16 th biennial meeting of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation  Sept 28-Oct 1, 2012. The theme is “ Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk Science & Practice” but submitted abstracts can and will run the gamut of milk and lactation research. The preliminary program looks kickass and its bound to be a spectacular meeting. See you in Trieste!

“ Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History ” by Florence Williams was released this week by Norton Publishing. I am generally a sucker for non-fiction books about science and medicine, and obviously mammary glands are my stock and trade, so I went into the book with high expectations and no little amount of fear. As Aimee Ploudre cautioned during grad school “Expectations are disappointment under construction.” Well no caution was necessary; this book is superb. Early in the introduction, once Williams reminds us that breasts “turn babies and grown men into lunkheads,” she goes directly to the heart of the matter – “Its remarkable how little we know about their basic biology. We know some things: they appear out of nowhere at puberty, they get bigger in pregnancy, they’re capable of producing prodigious amounts of milk, and sometimes they get sick.” And thus begins a detailed and engaging journey through their evolutionary origins, their role in cultural constructs, and their status ...

As an undergraduate (when everything makes perfect sense and isn't complex and messy- aka fantasy land), I learned that primate mothers will allow juveniles to suckle if they are hurt or sick or stressed. Makes sense! Injured or sick animals may not be able to forage effectively and snuggling with mom is comforting. But wait a second- where are the data? These events are relatively rare and are not a main target of research effort. This means that there is little information about the prevalence and context in which this behavior occurs. Let’s fix that. Human Behavioral Ecologists: Pretty please fill out this survey . Primatologists: Pretty please fill out this survey. xoxo, Katie PS: Although I generally agree with Irwin Bernstein that “the plural of anecdote is not data,” we’re going to ignore that for now.