Some women end up with a bountiful stash of frozen breast milk — be it from oversupply, a baby in the NICU, or an infant who turns out to be allergic to something in the milk pumped so far. Some of those women are moved to donate the excess milk to a non-profit milk bank. In the past few days, I have heard two women express (no pun intended) frustration at the restrictions posted on women who wish to qualify as breast milk donors. One, whose oversupply and dairy-free diet could certainly have benefited a milk bank, was turned away …read more

When I got an email informing me that there was a ceremony this evening to name the Mothers’ Milk Bank of New England as the official winner of the Ideablob $10,000 giveaway, I almost didn’t believe it! I ran right over to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog and sure enough, there was the announcement, explaining that the top vote getter had been disqualified and the milk bank had won! Huge congratulations to Tanya and all those working hard to start up the new milk bank, and a huge “thank you” to all of you who voted in the contest! I am …read more

Jennifer and Tanya report that the Mothers’ Milk Bank of New England received enough votes in the IdeaBlob semi-finals to make it to the final round! The Milk Bank is one of eight finalists competing for the $10,000 prize, so your vote is needed in this final round. Vote now!

All it takes is a few moments of your time to vote for the funding proposal for the Mothers’ Milk Bank of New England on IdeaBlob. If enough people vote (and it only took 600 votes for last month’s winner), the fledgling milk bank receives $10,000 that will be used to buy processing and storage equipment, establish a “Milk Money” fund to help families whose insurance does not cover the processing fees for donor milk, and develop marketing materials for the milk bank. Need more information? Tanya at the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog is spear-heading the effort, after inspiration from The …read more

Lactation and health professionals might be interested in the second annual conference sponsored by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). This year the conference takes place at the luxurious Doral Tesoro Hotel and Golf Club in Fort Worth, Texas on November 8 and 9, 2007. Early bird registration ends September 14, 2007 and on-line registration ends October 24, 2007. For further details, visit the HMBANA Conference 2007 page.
If you won’t be attending the conference but are interested in finding out more about human milk banking, visit HMBANA’s Frequently Asked Questions page.

The International Breast Milk Project (IBMP) sounded so noble and noteworthy. Mother Jill Youse had extra breast milk stashed in the freezer and decided to pair with Prolacta Bioscience to ship donated breast milk to an orphanage in South Africa where the milk would be given to babies orphaned by AIDS.
Since the initial splash of positive publicity, however, the project has come under fire for questionable practices. Sure it’s nice that Prolacta processes and ships some breast milk donations for free, but it doesn’t ship all the donations or even a majority of the donations. It sells the remaining …read more

When I wrote about On-Line Auctions of Human Breast Milk, my inquiry to eBay resulted in the removal of one listing of breast milk for sale. eBay clarified that the sale of breast milk is not permitted but it never added breast milk to the prohibited “Human Parts and Remains” (which included blood and semen).
The other day the seller whose listing was removed left a comment on one of my posts. She offered some insight into eBay policies and practices:
They kicked it off e-bay as it violating the Food Policy as breast milk is an unpasteurized dairy product which …read more

Jennifer at The Lactivist must be happier than a pig in mud today after she received an apology from the National Pork Board (remember this controversy?) Her viral marketing campaign spread faster than swine flu. You’ve never seen so many bloggers hamming it up and porking out on pig jokes. Jennifer lists some of the best entries in her update here. I guess this means I can keep wearing my shirt!
The best news of all is that the t-shirt sales from Jennifer’s fundraiser for the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Ohio raised over $700! Combine that with 10% of the profits …read more

In the most controversial poll yet, I asked “Should On-Line Sales of Breast Milk Be Permitted?”
The results turned out to be quite divided when I aggregated all of the “yes” and “no” votes:

The complete results are as follows:
Sure, I’d buy the milk if I needed it: 2% of votes
Yes, it’s a matter of buyer-beware: 15%
Yes, if the milk has been tested and pasteurized: 8%
Yes, if the buyer plans to test and pasteurize the milk: 2%
Yes, if there is a site set up to regulate it: 13%
No, never, it’s too dangerous: 13%
No, never, it’s unethical/morally wrong: 0%
No, mothers should donate to …read more

[Note: post edited to censor the picture. I've been asked to take down the picture of the shirt due to a ridiculous claim by the National Pork Board that the humorous lactivist slogan "The Other White Milk" infringes on the Pork Board's trademark "The Other White Meat." Now I can understand if someone where trying to sell, say, goat's milk on television as "The Other White Milk" that that might be a problem. But a lactivist joke t-shirt about breast milk? Lighten up National Pork Board!] My Lactivist t-shirt arrived the other day! Sorry Jennifer, I’m not the greatest model …read more