AIDS Awareness ribbons; Photo by Subhadip Mukherjee

WHO now recommends that breastfeeding continue until the infant is 12 months of age, provided the HIV-positive mother or baby is taking ARVs during that period. This will reduce the risk of HIV transmission and improve the infant’s chance of survival.

2. CNN reports on the on-going story of the group of women who stepped in to breastfeed an infant when his mother passed away after giving birth. It’s been 11 months that baby Moses has been nursed by over 20 women. The baby’s father, Robbie Goodrich, said, “It’s been such an incredible outpouring of community love for this child of mine.”

3. Sinead at BreastfeedingMums covers the tragic story of a mother who fell asleep sitting up while breastfeeding her baby and accidentally smothered the child. As Sinead says, it’s important to pay attention to the guidelines for safe co-sleeping.

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Hayek’s daughter, Valentina, turned 1 before the trip and the actress spoke about the importance of breast-feeding, especially in underdeveloped countries such as Sierra Leone. In fact doctors there say that because malnutrition is so rampant they would like to see women in Sierra Leone breast-feed for two years. But such behavior is rare. The reason? Men urge their wives to quickly stop breast-feeding because of cultural mores that forbid sexual intercourse with breast-feeding women.

In the video coverage, Salma Hayek cross-nurses a hungry 7-day-old baby. If you don’t have time to watch the whole 8-minute video, skip to about -3:15 to watch as she breastfeeds the baby and then talks about how it felt to cross-nurse. It’s a powerful piece and you might want to have a hanky ready! Salma Hayek might just be my new favorite actress/humanitarian/lactivist!

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Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

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?

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For more on the subject, see what La Leche League has to say about wet-nursing and cross-nursing, and read about the history of wet-nursing from sources compiled by Kellymom.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3