Milk-Sharing and Donor Milk Banks
January 16, 2007 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under breast milk, breastfeeding basics, donation of breast milk
Cottontimer alerted me to a fascinating article in The Washington Post today, “Banking on Milk: Options Are Growing for Women Who Can’t Breast-feed” by Shannon Henry. Note that Henry interviewed blogger Jennifer Laycock of The Lactivist for the article!
Women may choose to supplement with another woman’s breast milk for many reasons–perhaps they have adopted a baby or they are taking a medication that is contraindicated for breastfeeding. Women seeking to supplement with another woman’s breast milk have several options:
1. One of the non-profit milk banks that are accredited members of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. This option is ideal because the donors are screened and the breast milk is pasteurized and tested for bacterial contaminants then frozen for shipment to hospitals and individuals.
2. For-profit milk banks like Prolacta, which generally charge significantly more for the milk than a non-profit would.
3. Working with a private donor and a physician who can arrange for testing of the milk.
4. Milk-sharing sales over the internet. Henry’s article notes the inherent dangers in this method.
First, there is worry about the safety of unscreened milk, which can pass diseases such as HIV and syphilis to babies. Others debate ethical concerns, such as whether people should make money selling human milk and how such businesses should be regulated.
Some worry that mothers may choose to sell their breast milk for profit while feeding their own babies formula. In addition to the ethical concerns and health risks, there are risks of scams such as the fraudulent sale of “milk” made from “chalk mixed with water.” Henry finds that “a simple Google search reveals how easy it is to find women offering their milk for sale with only their own assurances of its quality.”
5. Arranging for cross-nursing by a close friend or family member or hiring a wet-nurse. Both cross-nursing and wet-nursing are becoming more popular in spite of their controversial nature.
Have you ever shared milk with a friend or donated to a milk bank? Have you ever supplemented with donor milk? What was your experience like?
I nursed my first until 2.5 (only weaned because I was about 4 months pregnant) and am currently nursing #2 who is 2 months and definitely my last baby and may nurse until he goes off to college. I’ve also nursed two other babies. One as a joke – her mom thought she’d never do it because she was already 18 months but the little darling loves the milk (she is 3 now and still nursing) and didn’t care what package it came in. I also nursed a friend’s baby on two different occasions when she wanted to go away for the day. I would give either of them pumped milk if they asked and I had some but I’ve only had it available au natural. It felt incredibly weird and, honestly, I was really uncomfortable and couldn’t wait for them to unlatch. I much prefer to nurse my own children. If I ever needed to supplement, I would definitely send out emails begging friends for any excess milk but probably wouldn’t be able to use it due to my childrens’ allergies. Sigh!
That’s interesting Ann! I wonder if nursing a friend’s baby feels weird due to an age difference between your nursling and your friend’s, or just that it’s not your own child. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I have very fatty breastmilk and have been approached by two other mom’s in my mom’s group who needed to bring their kids out of the “failure to thrive” risk area. My kids have both been very chubby babies, they don’t start out that way, but they gain weight and height very quickly while nursing, and then my oldest once weaned quickly moved from always in the 99% for height and weight into the 50 – 60% range for both. I’m still nursing the youngest, but I’m expecting the same result. I have people comment that I should sell my milk to third world countries, and my kids pediatrician actually said that I should donate my milk because it is apparently very rich. The kids that I did pump for very quickly moved out of the risk group and within only a week or two really started to gain weight and grow.
With my first child since she was a premie they had me pump at the hospital to get my milk flowing, and I kept pumping at home thinking I’d eventually use it, but I never did, so I checked into donating it, but it just seemed too difficult, with all the blood test…I am not an easy draw and usually take at least 3 tries. I was considering it for a few months when the problem was sadly solved by a power outage when all the milk defrosted.
I would consider it now, I feel like I should since my milk is obviously very fatty and really gives kids in need the jumpstart they nead, but they just make it so difficult to donate. I feel almost like I’m on trial for trying to donate, and just a copy of my doctors records aren’t enough. It’s sad really. I also was very put off by the fact that the Mom’s are charged for what I freely donate. I would much rather just give it to a Mom to use. However, that also has to be secretive as one mom was told by the pediatrician that it is not okay to get milk from someone else, even someone you know, unless it’s processed, and all the other test. She however ignored this.
It is a lot of work to pump, especially with two small kids, and it is not the most comfortable experience, so I do think that Moms should be re-imbursed for their efforts, not a lot of money, but just something that makes it seem like we aren’t just donating to a bank for them to turn around and sell it. Of course, for babies that I actually know, it’s always free and worth it to see how quickly they respond to the extra fat they need. One of the babies was a g-tube baby at the time, and one was a breast fed baby.
If it was easier to donate, I also would have no problem with donating directly to a local hospital fresh milk whenever they needed it, but there are just too many legal issues. It really is sad that we live in a world where they have to be this careful for the sake of the babies, I understand it to some degree, but it really just makes it really hard on the moms that would donate otherwise, like me. In the end, the ones that suffer are the babies, it really isn’t right, and they really need to rethink how all this is handled.