Would you donate or accept EBM from another?

[miss.cinders]

You are amazing OP, I wish there were more Women who were able to do what you are doing

YES I would. And YES I have accepted my sisters EBM for my DD when she was a newborn [less that 24hrs old].
It saved her life.

[Indadhanu]

Yep. I've tried to donate but Jazz is too old now. I would accept it as well, as long as I trusted the person was being honest about their alcohol/medication consumption, or the EBM was from individuals tested for alcohol or drugs in their system at the time of donating.

[HotI]

I wouldn't donate because i take medication. i have researched and am happy for my bub to have my milk but other mums probably wouldn't.

I hope that i wouldn't need to, but if something happened (e.g. accident) and bub needed to be fed i would prefer ebm to formula.

[Jennifer13]

I would donate and accept. I'd accept it without screening if it was someone I knew. Much better than the alternative, IMO.

[briggsy's girl]

i'd donate if i could - especially for someone i know. i'd do it for a "contact" if we were put in contact, but for someone i knew that was struggling, i'd do it in a heartbeat

accepting - yup - esp at the very start when DD was losing too much weight waiting for my milk to come in and i was given the alternative of either making sure she gained weight overnight or they were going to give her formula with or without my consent. i knew i didn't want her to have formula if it could be avoided, so someone elses EBM would have been an acceptable alternative had we not managed to get her to put on some weight overnight (thanks to my DH being there to encourage me to feed and sleep overnight, while he settled the poppet for me)

if it was when she was a bit older and it was a supply issue, i don't know if i'd accept EBM.. knowing that attachment and stimulation fuel supply, i would try to avoid using another source so as to build up my own supply adequately, but in the case of being unable to attach/express due to nipple damage, then yes, i'd use EBM from someone else in preference to formula.

i would happily donate now if i was a more efficient expresser (and if DD weren't deemed "too old" for most to accept)

[Moi]

I wish I could have had access to someone else's EBM rather than giving M FF when I had to give up BF. So I would definitely accept EBM and I would be happy to donate too if I could.

[Maruschke]

In reality I think I'm much happier to FF than EBM, sorry. It's not just me, it's also DH, and how he feels about a third party person feeding DD1 when it could have been him with the bottle. He would feel like he was missing out. Very tough call to make, especially in the haze after birth.

[ellasmummy]

I definately would. DD was in the NICU when born (with a perforated bowel) and we were told she wouldn't live, and i was never told to express after the first 12 hours or so, by the time they figured she would make it and told me to express it was day 3 of life, so a bit late. Luckily she was on 3mls every hour, so not a big supply to keep up with! but after a couple of months i was getting 10mls from expressing both sides, tried everything under the sun, and just couldn't keep up with her increasing feeds. at this stage we were in the special care nursery, and the lady behind me had a 32 weeker, and she had a HUGE supply. freezer at home and hossy full and was tipping it down the sink

she offered to give dd ebm and I gave the ok, but they wouldn't let her as she was on blood pressure tablets - the same ones i was on though!!!! it upset me to no end watching her go express, then chuck it out. if i had my time again i would have just done the sneaky and got it off her and pretended i expressed it. sorry for the novel, but yes I am so so so passionate about ebm donation, if both parties are willing then go for it.

[ellasmummy]

oh and given the oppurtunity I would definately donate

[MantaRay]

Definitely on both counts. And it's actually more common than you would think. People do it more than they talk about it.

It's interesting to note that the risk of anything being transmitted to the baby via breastmilk is very, very small. Nature is very clever when it comes to providing for babies LOL! The World Health Organisation says that wet nursing and donated EBM are both better options for a baby unable to receive his mother's breastmilk than artificial baby milks and there is plenty of evidence to support that.

[Maruschke]

Definitely on both counts. And it's actually more common than you would think. People do it more than they talk about it.

It's interesting to note that the risk of anything being transmitted to the baby via breastmilk is very, very small. Nature is very clever when it comes to providing for babies LOL! The World Health Organisation says that wet nursing and donated EBM are both better options for a baby unable to receive his mother's breastmilk than artificial baby milks and there is plenty of evidence to support that.

I'm wondering if you know DH's thoughts on this? Just out of interest for me, since this decision we made was based on more than just pure nutrition . Have any of us spoken to our DH's about this issue?

Please read this in the right light, I'm just asking out of curiosity, not trying to pry into your relationship or communication skills etc .

[onthefly]

I know my DH would definitely prefer someone else's breastmilk for his children than formula. Probably EBM rather than from the breast, but that would be ok too if it were an emergency

[Maruschke]

I know my DH would definitely prefer someone else's breastmilk for his children than formula. Probably EBM rather than from the breast, but that would be ok too if it were an emergency

Thanks... my DH feels stronger about this than I do, I think it's more of him wanting to keep it all in house, and be able to provide without having to look to another person, ITMS? FF is not another person, it's just a product, whereas EMB is a dependancy on someone else. That's his thinking anyway... thanks for sharing your DH's feelings on the matter, it's interesting to me .

[Jennifer13]

My DH would only use formula if he couldn't get bm from another person. He would much prefer our children to have bm. But he's right up on the WHO guidelines.

[*Efjay*]

I would happily donate to anyone, But I would happily accept from a known person. Not sure I could accept from a stranger.

[Fleur]

My DH would be fine with EBM from a bottle, I don't think he'd be so keen on from the breast. Thta's just him

[briggsy's girl]

My DH would accept EBM if for some reason i couldn't provide for DD (was ill or something) - longer term, i dont think he'd want to be reliant on a "contact", but if it were from a friend, he would probably be fine with it. DD on the other hand - not so sure - she rarely took EBM at any time from anyone - if it wasn't the original delivery, it wasn't good enough!

[trishalishous]

yes and yes, and I would happily cross nurse with friends/family
this is such a great thing you've done, I wish I'd been able to use donor ebm rather than formula for dds top ups.
now my milk isn't great (due to a pitutary problem) but I can get enough with still expressing.