Human Milk & Lactation

This month, we are celebrating World Breastfeeding Month by sharing one student's path from bench researcher to an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.

For many graduate students, doctoral training focuses on generating new knowledge through research. But at UC Davis, students interested in maternal and child health have an opportunity to go one step further by learning how to translate that research into meaningful support for families.

The UC Davis Department of Nutrition and its collaborators made a strong impact at this year’s International Milk Genomics Consortium (IMGC) Symposium in Aarhus, Denmark, with students, faculty, and clinical researchers all contributing to the program. The symposium brought together scientists, industry leaders, and clinicians from around the world to advance understanding of milk, its bioactive components, and its role in human health across the lifespan.

Every August, National Breastfeeding Month invites us to celebrate nursing parents and their dedication. But it also offers an opportunity to reconsider how science and public health approach one of the most foundational aspects of human development: nutrition in early life.

What makes a baby healthy—and what does the latest research say?

In the Department of Nutrition and the Graduate Group in Nutritional Biology at UC Davis, our scientists are diving deep into the wonders of human milk — from its unique composition to how it shapes lifelong health.