What might be done to encourage babies to accept products which don’t naturally smell of human milk?
“[…] babies prefer the odor attributes of human milk compared to those of artificial infant formula or milk products based on milk compositions of animal origin such as cow’s milk etc.”
The Fraunhofer Society (owner, amongst much more, of the mp3 patent) have come up with an idea – perhaps such things could be perfumed with human-milk smells? They have recently devised analytic techniques that have been able to identify more than forty characteristic odorants in human milk [see partial list below the fold] and now (as of 27th Oct 2015) the society was granted US patent #9167838 for their ‘Infant formulation containing an aroma composition for use as fragrance’.
Since the odorants, or perfumes, have been identified, they can be applied to (or added to) various items and products, so that human babies will more readily accept them.
“The scenting might be added during the production process or after manufacture. The object may be impregnated or a composition may be applied which comprises at least one of the above mentioned odorants.”
Items include pacifiers, sucking devices in general, clothing, incubators, medical equipment, pillows and toys. The patent says that the perfumes can also be added to ‘nutraceutical’ infant formulas.
Question: Might the new additives also be added to existing milks (cow, ewe, goat, horse, donkey, lama, camel or soya) to make them more appetizing for babies?
Bonus: A tangentially related study, from investigators at the California Polytechnic University, Department of Kinesiology, College of Math and Sciences, US, ‘What are mothers doing while bottle-feeding their infants? Exploring the prevalence of maternal distraction during bottle-feeding interactions’.
“Mothers reported engaging in other activities during 52% of feedings; television watching was the most prevalent activity reported.”
“LIST 1
Methylpropanal, butan-2,3-dione (diacetyl), hexanal, 1-hexen-3-one, octanal, 1-octen-3one, (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-one, nonanal, non-1-en-3-one, (E)-2-octenal, acetic acid, 3-methylthio propanal (methional), decanal, (Z)-non-2-enal, 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine, (E)-non-2-enal, linalool, (E,Z)-nona-2,6-dienal, (E,E)-octa-2,4-dienal, butanoic acid, phenylacetaldehyde, 2/3-methylbutanoic acid, (E,E)-nona 2,4-dienal, pentanoic acid, (E,E)deca-2,4-dienal, 2-methoxyphenol (guaiacol), 2-phenylethanol, .beta.-ionone, tr-(4,5)-epoxy(E)-dec-2-enal, 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone, .gamma.-nonalactone, .gamma.-decalactone, 4-ethyloctanoic acid, .delta.-decalactone, 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone (sotolon), 2-aminoacetophenone, (Z)-6-.gamma.-dodecenolactone, .delta.-dodecalactone, 3-methylindole (skatol), phenylacetic acid, vanillin, 5.alpha.-androst-16-en-3.alpha.-one, 4,16-androstadien-3-one, 1,4-androstadien-3,17-dion LIST 2 1-hexen-3-one, (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-one, non-1-en-3-one, (E)-2-octenal, decanal, (Z)-non-2-enal, 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine, (E)-non-2-enal, linalool, (E,Z)-nona-2,6-dienal, (E,E)-octa-2,4-dienal, phenylacetaldehyde, 2/3-methylbutanoic acid, (E,E)-nona-2,4-dienal, 2-methoxyphenol (guaiacol), 2-phenylethanol, .beta.-ionone, tr-(4,5)-epoxy-(E)-dec-2-enal, .gamma.-nonalactone, .gamma.-decalactone, 4-ethyloctanoic acid, .delta.-decalactone, 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone (sotolon), 2-aminoacetophenone, (Z)-6-.gamma.-dodecenolactone, .delta.-dodecalactone, 3-methylindole (skatol), phenylacetic acid, 5.alpha.-androst-16-en-3.alpha.-one LIST 3 Methylpropanal, butan-2,3-dione (diacetyl), 1-hexen-3-one, (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-one, non-1-en-3-one, 3-methylthio propanal (methional), 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine, linalool, (E,E)-octa-2,4-dienal, butanoic acid, phenylacetaldehyde, 2/3-methylbutanoic acid, pentanoic acid, 2-methoxyphenol (guaiacol), 2-phenylethanol, .beta.-ionone, tr-(4,5)-epoxy-(E)-dec-2-enal, .gamma.-nonalactone, 4-ethyloctanoic acid, .delta.-decalactone, 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone (sotolon), 2-aminoacetophenone, (Z)-6-.gamma.-dodecenolactone, 3-methylindole (skatol), phenylacetic acid, vanillin, 5.alpha.-androst-16-en-3.alpha.-one LIST 4 Butan-2,3-dione (diacetyl), 1-hexen-3-one, 1-octen-3-one, (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-one, non-1-en-3-one, phenylacetaldehyde, (E,E)-deca-2,4-dienal, .beta.-ionone, tr-(4,5)-epoxy-(E)-dec-2-enal, .gamma.-nonalactone, .gamma.-decalactone, 4-ethyloctanoic acid, .delta.-decalactone, 3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone (sotolon), 2-aminoacetophenone, (Z)-6-.gamma.-dodecenolactone, 6-dodecalactone, 3-methylindole (skatol), phenylacetic acid, 5.alpha.-androst-16-en-3.alpha.-one, .delta.4,16-androstadien-3-one, 1,4-androstadien-3,17-dion LIST 5 Hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid, octanoic acid, nonanoic acid, decanoic acid, dodecanoic acid, 3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid, .delta.-octalactone, .gamma.-octalactone, .delta.-nonalactone, .gamma.-dodecalactone, .delta.4,16-androstadien-3-one, 1,4-androstadien-3,17-dione, (Z)-4-heptenal, ethyl isobutanoate, ethyl butanoate, ethyl 2-methyl butanoate, ethyl 3-methylbutanoate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate.”