I recall reading that infant formula, in the post-WWII era, was made from the
stuff skimmed off the top of dairy cow milk.  I believe this happened at a
time when technology allowed dairy milk production to sky rocket and farmers
were happy to find a way to use the scum from the top of the milk that would
otherwise be wasted or fed to the pigs.   Reading my mother's baby book (born
1940) is so sad, because she was fed a mixture (called "formula" to sound
scientific, I suppose) of canned milk and karo syrup (good thing botulism
spores haven't been found in it!).  My mom was "off the bottle" and fed from a
glass cup by five months old.   It is no wonder that she was a sickly child
who weighed 17lbs at one year (a fact that my grandmother *never* forgot and
she is now 86y.o.)  My uncle, born 12 years prior was breastfed almost one
year!

Lisa Jones, LLLL in Wellington, sunny south FL