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Not only clean water and the like, but access to medicines when baby gets sick are a big issue too. FF babies do get sick more often, particularly with tummy bugs, and where good medical care and affordable medicines are not available this can become very serious.
Having a child who got caught up in the sanlu incident here, and know that he was damaged somehow by that formula, i would take milk from a donor in a developed country screened. I also think the types of ladies who care to give would not be the types to be on drugs etc.
I wouldnt touch bm here from anybody else. Giving blood here isn't safe so buying milk? No way.
Sorry if it doesn't make sense, the barefoot princess is covering me with kisses
Ff babes get sick more often? oh please don't start this. It depends ob the child. I have feed all 3 of my kids the same way and their health is different for each
Sorry if it doesn't make sense, the barefoot princess is covering me with kisses
Statistically speaking - across the population of thousands of children - they do.
I'd be happy to use donated milk from somebody I knew or through some of the networks of people available these days where everybody is connected by someone. I'm lucky to have never been in such a position but I would definitely be trying to source BM in some way as my first point of call after not being able to feed at the breast or express myself.
Anecdotally and for individual children, it may not be the case.:
I am speaking only of statistics for the general population, particularly in the countries where HIV is a much higher risk than it is here. Unfortunately, for the general population, babies do get sick more often and more seriously when ff. Your ff child may not, nor may any of the ff babies you know. That's fantastic. Unfortunately, it is not true if you look at the whole of society. I was not making an assumption, just an observation at a macro level. Which is where health authorities consider the issues.
Personally, I think I would need to be put in that situation. But for me at this time, I wouldnt use it. However I know I'd prefer donated BM over Formula but would want it screened. unscreened doesnt sit well with me. That said though, I'd like to think that someone who was kind enough to donate their BM would know their health status not to donate milk that could transmit anything iykwim.
Yes, that's true.. Another issue is the cost!!! The milk bank near me wanted to charge me $80 for 1.1L... If the milk bank and formula were my only options I would have had to use formula at least some of the time.. Luckily for me though, they weren't the only options and I got EBM FREE from wonderful sharing milky mama's :D:
i would prefer to find a donor than go through a milk bank because of the processing of the milk that is done in a milk bank. i read an article somewhere that the processing can destroy some of the goodies in the breastmilk.
Yeah :( they pasteurise it which kills some of the goodness. And yes, it really is $8 per 100 mils. I saw someone did fundraising for a milk bank, raised $8000 which was only 1000 bottles of milk and I thought... omg whaaaa? Milk banks are really expensive to maintain, sadly.:
Risks of milk sharing vs risks of formula feeding
http://www.amj.net.au/index.php?jour...path%5B%5D=933
Who can afford that? That seems so wrong. Cheaper to.find a wet nurse?
Sorry if it doesn't make sense, the barefoot princess is covering me with kisses
I've donated frozen EBM to two precious babies so far, and am about to donate more to a third baby in the next week or so. None of the mothers have ever requested blood screening. I was curious why they didn't ask for it, even when I offered, so I asked one of the Mum's. She basically told me that some of it is based on research that there is really not terribly much that can be passed on through breastmilk, partly trust, and partly observation. She met me in person and met my kids. She could see that both (I just had two at the time) looked very healthy and she said I looked healthy and that my environment looked 'clean' (so now hygiene issues visible and from the smell of my house and me she knew I was telling the truth about being a non-smoker). But she said the biggest reason she feels to trust Mums that are still breastfeeding their own kids is that Mums generally want to do the best for their kids and try to be as healthy as possible while breastfeeding. The only person she had ever requested a blood screening from was a Mum that no longer breastfed her own children but was continuing to express just to continue donating. So basically I agree with what Blessedatlast said here:
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Yes, breastmilk from a milk bank is extremely expensive and a lot of the "goodies" are denatured when the milk is pasteurised (although it is still better than formula). It's also very hard to get for just a "normal" baby. Having a low milk supply often isn't a good enough reason to be able to buy milk from a milk bank. They only have a limited supply and they basically triage recipients so that the most "needy" get it. So premmies and babies with nutritional issues get first dibs.:
For myself personally, if I had to get milk for my kids, then I would prefer donated milk over milk bank milk, and I would prefer milk bank milk over formula. Even though I happily donate without being screened (other than my pregnancy screening), I think I would probably still request blood screening if the donor was a stranger and if there was time to wait for the results.
I guess that it's incorrect to call informal donations unscreened. Clearly Mums are screening, they are just relying on honesty and their own observations as a screening method rather than blood tests.
Good point, though when I made the OP I was thinking of formal blood tests. We are always constantly assessing situations, no way to really avoid it.:
Mylitta that was a great post.
I have donated BM in both situations: to a stranger and to a close friend in need. the stranger was through my homebirth network and i guess had the reassurance of my pathology etc from my IM etc. and my close friend had trust in me.
I was never formally screened for the donation of BM and TBH if i was in the same situation and had access to the same support networks then I would accept.
Very interesting debate! I have donated milk myself, but never accepted. My DS was intolerant to cow milk and hypersensitive to caffeine and sugar - so just a small bit of Cadbury's would mean a nightmare 24 hours for me. I'm not going to screen mothers for their normal diet because it was a strange diet I was on. Also DH is allergic to nuts so I was also nut-free in pregnancy and BFing. I cannot in all reason ask other women to give up chocolate brazil nuts. Or sticky toffee puddings. Or to change their usual drinks.
I wouldn't accept milk from a stranger either, I would like to vet the woman if not formally test her.
Also, I fed my newborn formula. It really isn't the end of the world. I'd have preferred to have not been in hospital with bullies insisting I would never feed my child myself then trying to ensure I gave up, but that's lesson learnt for next time rather than wishing it never happened.