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Historic Infant Feeding Improvisations Were Risky
- Infant feeding improvisations have existed for centuries as people used honey, wine, animal milk, pap and wet nurses when human milk wasn't available.
- Early substitutes often added fats or soaked bread but lacked knowledge of germ theory and proper sanitation, causing high risk to infants.
Cow Milk Composition Drove Early Formula Design
- Chemists discovered cow's milk had higher protein and lower carbohydrate than human milk, explaining infant dehydration and higher mortality when fed straight cow's milk.
- This spurred attempts to 'fix' cow's milk by adding cream, sugar and water to better match human milk composition.
Liebig's Powdered Infant Food Launched Commercial Formula
- German chemist Justus von Liebig created the first commercial powdered infant food mixing cow's milk, wheat and malt flour and potassium bicarbonate in the 1860s.
- His Leipzig soluble infant food sold for $1 a bottle in 1869, a high cost that limited access.