Every parenthood journey deserves its own road map

Every parent’s journey is as unique as the child they love. Yet new parents often face either generic one-size-fits-all advice or a lack of guidance when they desperately need personalized support.

When my first child was born, my husband and I thought we were prepared. As biomedical scientists, we understood the benefits of breastfeeding — immune protection, mother-child bonding, and complete nutrition. We followed standard recommendations to breastfeed exclusively from birth.

Within 36 hours, it was clear that something was wrong. Our daughter cried desperately, slept less than an hour at a time, developed chapped lips, and produced fewer wet diapers. Despite strong public messaging discouraging formula use, we advocated for supplementation. Once she had her first bottle, she slept soundly for three hours for the first time since birth. We had confirmation: She needed formula supplementation, likely due to low breast-milk supply.

The formula challenge

What followed was an unexpected odyssey through infant nutrition. Our daughter developed distinct preferences for different formulas, rejecting brand after brand. Popular U.S. formulas tasted metallic and fermented European organic options had a fishy flavor. Hypoallergenic formulas, designed for easier digestion, were equally unpalatable. One of our neighbor's children rejected 30 different brands entirely.

Eventually, we found success with a Japanese formula that tasted naturally sweet like cow's milk. The catch? It was available only in Japan and severely back-ordered through overseas shipping. We relied on friends and family traveling between the U.S. and Asia to bring back supplies — clearly unsustainable for the long term.

Building supply while managing demand

Meanwhile, I worked tirelessly to increase my milk production. The critical window for establishing supply is the first four to eight weeks postpartum, requiring pumping or feeding every three hours around the clock. For exhausted parents, this schedule is overwhelming.

Standard breast pumps recommended by friends proved uncomfortable and ineffective. I advocated for a hospital-grade pump, which worked better but came with its own challenges — the size of a kettle, still uncomfortable, and requiring connection to tubes and wires. I tracked every feeding, every pumping session, every milliliter of milk in detailed logs, treating parenting like a data-collection exercise. Through this intensive effort, I managed to meet about half of my daughter's nutritional needs through breastmilk.

From personal struggle to scientific solution

This journey was filled with stress, trial and error, and the constant wish for guidance that addressed our specific situation. My experience is not unique — friends have shared their own challenges with milk oversupply, medical barriers to breastfeeding, and complications like pre- and post-eclampsia. Each parent faces a distinct set of biological and logistical hurdles, yet we are often left to navigate these challenges with either generic advice that does not apply or no guidance at all.

This personal experience directly shaped my current research focus. During my PhD rotation in spring 2025, I worked with Professor David Relman and Professor Nima Aghaeepour to better understand maternal and infant health. They have pioneered work in integrating biological data for predictive diagnostics in maternal health.

The future of personalized parenting

I envision a future where machine learning algorithms analyze the vast datasets we already collect — from pregnancy health records to infant feeding patterns to genetic markers — to provide truly personalized guidance for new families. Instead of leaving parents to figure things out on their own or offering generic recommendations that work for some but fail many others, families could receive tailored advice about feeding strategies, supply management, and early-warning signs specific to their biological and social circumstances.

Imagine if my doctors could have predicted my low milk-supply risk and provided targeted interventions before my daughter's distress. Imagine if parents could receive personalized formula recommendations based on their child's taste preferences and nutritional needs. This work is already happening in maternal and infant health research. We have the data, the computational power, and an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the biological mechanisms involved. 

All parents deserve guidance as unique as their child. By harnessing the power of personalized medicine, we can transform those overwhelming early weeks from a stressful guessing game into a supported, data-informed journey. My hope is that this innovation will make every parenthood journey as special as the child they love.

Debbie Ho (2024 cohort), from Ipoh, Malaysia, is pursuing a PhD in bioengineering at Stanford School of Engineering. She has been researching stem cell biology for more than 10 years at academic institutions in Europe and the United States and is now focusing on computational analyses of human and microbiome interactions and their impact on health. 

Knight-Hennessy scholars represent a vast array of cultures, perspectives, and experiences. While we as an organization are committed to elevating their voices, the views expressed are those of the scholars, and not necessarily those of KHS.