News and updates

Participation in the MILk study is now open to anyone who fits the screening criteria, regardless of where you receive prenatal care or give birth! 

To see if you qualify, complete the online screening tool. 

P.S. If you've already been in the MILk study with another child, we'd love to have you back if you qualify. 

This is a belated happy first birthday to our first handful of babies enrolled in the second cohort of the MILk study! By the end of July, THIRTEEN of you will be one year old. It's amazing how time flies, and it's a delight to get to see your little ones get bigger before our very eyes. 

Formula shortages in the United States have prompted conversations about infant feeding, including how to best support families who decide to breastfeed or express milk for their babies. Dr. Ellen Demerath joined Minnesota-based lactation providers Shashana Craft and LaVonne Moore to discuss breastfeeding support with MPR's Angela Davis. You can listen to their discussion here.

We've reached the milestone of 100 infant visits for our second iteration of the MILk study! Study visits take place with babies when they are around 1, 3, and 6 months old, so our study coordinators are lucky enough to get to watch these adorable little participants grow and develop over the course of their first six months of life. While COVID-19 slowed down the start of MILk II, we're back on track with babies, and adding returning 5- to 7-year-old kiddos to our schedules as well. The babies who were part of MILk I are now coming back for more body composition, metabolic, and cognitive testing. It's particularly fun to show the kids what their DXA scans looked like when they were 6 months old compared to now. Needless to say, they're quite a bit bigger! 

Participants are still needed in Minnesota and Oklahoma. If you are pregnant and planning to breastfeed for at least one month, you may qualify. Please reach out to your local study coordinator if you're interested.

The Minnesota MILk study team has moved to the beautiful new Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain along with the other studies housed at the Center for Neurobehavioral Development. This state-of-the-art facility combines clinical care for children with neurobehavioral conditions with research space and opportunities for community outreach and education. Our new research space is bigger, brighter, and will not only contain our Peapod equipment, but, soon, an iDXA scanner as well, allowing streamlined visits for children of all ages.

Take a virtual tour here: https://midb.umn.edu/about/virtual-tour

A fond goodbye to study coordinator Laurie Foster...

All of our Minnesota participants have interacted with study coordinator Laurie Foster, who was with the MILk Study from the very beginning. In 2020, Laurie moved to Boston and onto another research position. She leaves this message for all of our participants:

I will not be seeing you all at the follow up MILK study visits when they start up as I have moved to Boston to be closer to family. I was extremely lucky to be a part of the MILK study for more than 4 years and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have met you and your babies. Thank you for sharing those moments in your lives with me and the study. Happy 2021 to you all!

Fondly, Laurie

...and a "hello" to Tipper Gallagher!

Our new study coordinator, Tipper Gallagher, has been working behind the scenes to help launch the second phase of the MILk Study. With five years of experience working as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) at Hennepin Healthcare, she's eager to lend her breastfeeding expertise to the families participating in this study. Tipper is also a PhD student in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota, which gives her a foundation in research methods and data collection that will keep the MILk Study scientifically rigorous. 

We look forward to seeing your five-year-olds—and new babies!—in 2021!