Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey,
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, learn vogel Bob here. The shortages of certain
Speaker 1: products like meat or toilet paper are certainly annoying and inconvenient.
Speaker 1: That said, people can live without them, so it's not
Speaker 1: such a big deal in the grand scheme of things. However,
Speaker 1: the baby formula shortage of two is pretty scary stuff
Speaker 1: for caregivers of infants, not to mention adults who have
Speaker 1: medical conditions and need such products to survive. But commercially
Speaker 1: produced formula is still a relatively new fangled invention. So
Speaker 1: what did people do before modern formula hit store shelves.
Speaker 1: Parents had to be prepared in the olden days because
Speaker 1: many childbearing people struggled with low milk production related to
Speaker 1: them undiagnosable medical conditions like hypothybroidism and polycystic overy syndrome,
Speaker 1: among other issues. Also, people used to die in child
Speaker 1: at that much higher rates than they do today, leaving
Speaker 1: behind infants in need of nourishment. Well before bottles and
Speaker 1: formula came along, babies still had to be fed. Many
Speaker 1: parents turned to wet nurses to get the job done
Speaker 1: when they couldn't or in some cases wouldn't. Wet nurses
Speaker 1: are lack painting people who as early as two thousand
Speaker 1: BC have been employed or volunteered to breastfeed children who
Speaker 1: weren't their own. In some cases, wet nurses have been
Speaker 1: enslaved people as well. A Wet nurses were commonly hired
Speaker 1: for affluent families from ancient times through the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: The job still exists, though its status as a paying
Speaker 1: profession has largely died out. Today, there are even women
Speaker 1: who form cross nursing groups in which they take turns
Speaker 1: feeding each other's children in order to provide support and
Speaker 1: also bond with multiple children and families in the community.
Speaker 1: Parents who couldn't breastfeed and who lacked wet nurse access
Speaker 1: often turned to animal milk to nourish their infants. This
Speaker 1: was the most common type of artificial feeding until the
Speaker 1: end of the eighteen hundreds, although many caregivers used cow's milk,
Speaker 1: Milk from goats, donkeys, camels, horses, pigs, and sheep were
Speaker 1: also used, depending on where the parents lived and what
Speaker 1: was available. Before the modern baby bottle was properly fine tuned,
Speaker 1: children in France and likely other areas would often suck
Speaker 1: directly from an animal's teeth. Another common method in the
Speaker 1: sixteenth to eighteenth centuries was to make a mix called
Speaker 1: pap or panada made of bread soaked in milk or
Speaker 1: cereal cooked in water. This was fed to the baby
Speaker 1: via a spoon, a rag, or a special device called
Speaker 1: a pap boat. But we didn't yet know about the
Speaker 1: importance of sterilizing the objects that babies were drinking out of,
Speaker 1: nor how pasteurization worked, nor what nutrients babies need. In
Speaker 1: the early eighteen hundreds, one third of all babies fed
Speaker 1: with feeding devices died during their first year of life.
Speaker 1: Of course, other health issues were more deadly back then
Speaker 1: as well. Eventually, enterprising chemists decided to try to more
Speaker 1: closely mimic human breast milk, and in eighteen sixty five
Speaker 1: one Eustace Volan Liebig created what's believed to be the
Speaker 1: world's first infant formula. It was made of wheat, cow's milk, malt, flour,
Speaker 1: and potassium by carbonate. In eighteen sixty seven, pharmacist assistant
Speaker 1: On rins Lely launched a product that was made with
Speaker 1: similar ingredients but was easier to prepare. By eighteen eighty three,
Speaker 1: there were at least twenty seven brands of infant food available.
Speaker 1: While these would keep a child from going hungry, they
Speaker 1: usually lacked some of the necessary vitamins for infant health.
Speaker 1: Another milestone in infant formula occurred when we figured out
Speaker 1: how to preserve foods through canning, which gave rise to
Speaker 1: condensed milk and evaporated milk. In the eighteen hundreds, many
Speaker 1: pediatricians recommended evaporated milk to mothers for their babies in
Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties and forties. The first nonpowder formula hit
Speaker 1: the marketplace in nineteen one to great fanfare. For the article,
Speaker 1: this episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke by
Speaker 1: email with Dr Hilary Bashaw, a pediatric gastrointurologist at Children's
Speaker 1: Healthcare of Atlanta and an assistant professor at the Emory
Speaker 1: University College of Medicine. She said that was a turning
Speaker 1: point in history when the developed world embraced artificial infant
Speaker 1: formula and it became the feeding method of choice for many,
Speaker 1: regardless of ability to breastfeed. By the nineteen seventies, many
Speaker 1: were turning back to breastfeeding, and now we live in
Speaker 1: an era where there are many accepted and safe ways
Speaker 1: to feed infants. Infant formula today is made up of
Speaker 1: a careful blend of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.
Speaker 1: The most common protein is cow's milk, with vegetable oil
Speaker 1: for fat and lactose for cars. But with formula currently
Speaker 1: in short supply, many are wondering if they can make
Speaker 1: their own version at home, but experts are quick to
Speaker 1: caution people against doing this. Bashaw explained making your own
Speaker 1: formula at home could lead to major health problems or
Speaker 1: even death. Infants require specific nutrients with careful fluid and
Speaker 1: electrolyte balances that are nearly impossible to recreate at home.
Speaker 1: The significant nutritional deficiencies and developmental and growth delays could
Speaker 1: result from using homemade formulas. Homemade formulas tend to contain
Speaker 1: far too many saturated fats and proteins for a sensitive
Speaker 1: young stomach. They also don't have nearly the amount of
Speaker 1: essential fatty acids or vitamins that an infant needs to thrive,
Speaker 1: and often feature products like corn syrup, which many babies
Speaker 1: can't tolerate. Keep in mind that babies used to die
Speaker 1: of malnutrition diarrhea. And bottle contamination all the time. Modern
Speaker 1: commercially produced formulas, by contrast, are heavily regulated, thanks in
Speaker 1: part to the Infant Formula Act of nineteen eighty, which
Speaker 1: was updated in ninety six. Bashaw said there's constant development
Speaker 1: to make formula as close to human milk as possible,
Speaker 1: both for improved formula tolerance and to ensure babies on
Speaker 1: all sources of nutrition grow and develop well. Currently, she
Speaker 1: notes that there are minimum levels for twenty nine nutrients
Speaker 1: and maximum levels for nine nutrients in infant formula. Because
Speaker 1: babies require a special balance to thrive to their fullest potential,
Speaker 1: most caregivers prefer to pick a formula type and stick
Speaker 1: with it to minimize the risk of upsetting the baby's cut. However,
Speaker 1: in these lean formula times, it might be necessary to
Speaker 1: deviate from the norm and take whatever you can get.
Speaker 1: This is likely to be just fine, says Pasha a quote.
Speaker 1: Most babies can be given different types of formula provided
Speaker 1: they do not have a medical condition requiring a specialty formula.
Speaker 1: A baby that can tolerate a cow's milk formula will
Speaker 1: likely do fine with a plant based so I formula
Speaker 1: if that's what's available. Similarly, babies on brand name formula
Speaker 1: should do well on the generic counterpart of that formula. However,
Speaker 1: parents with any concerns about switching things up should up
Speaker 1: an open line of dialogue with a healthcare professional, especially
Speaker 1: if a child has medical conditions that require specialty formulas. Plus,
Speaker 1: a healthcare provider can help manage any gastro intestinal systems
Speaker 1: that may occur with a formula change in dire situations.
Speaker 1: The American Academy of Pediatricians says cow's milk can be
Speaker 1: given to infants over six months old who normally take
Speaker 1: regular formula, but for no longer than one week. However,
Speaker 1: you should talk to a healthcare provider first. Today's episode
Speaker 1: is based on article what did people do Before infant
Speaker 1: formula was invented? On how stuff Works dot Com written
Speaker 1: by A Leah Hoyt. The brain Stuff is production of
Speaker 1: by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com,
Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from
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