Yes, i would have no problem in it.
the only exception to that would be i would only use EBM i would actually let someone else feed my baby KWIM?
I think it is a lovely gesture to be able to give someone else EBM if they need it.
Registered User
Yes, i would have no problem in it.
the only exception to that would be i would only use EBM i would actually let someone else feed my baby KWIM?
I think it is a lovely gesture to be able to give someone else EBM if they need it.
Life Subscriber
I know how you feel hun. I used to have to throw out EBM and it was so sad. I wish I'd known of milk banks then.
To answer your question, yes, I would use EBM from family, a friend or a milk bank.
Registered User
I would definitely use it! As long as it was screened etc! I would prefer that to formula!
Good luck with whatever you choose to do with it!
Registered User
No. There are allergies and intolerances in the family as well as DS had such a sensitivity to caffeine, I just couldn't ask someone else to give up nuts and chocolate and have goat's milk products and no penicillin or coffee or... I don't mind doing it but I don't think I'd trust someone else to do it.
TBH formula is a better option for us because I know there are no allergens in goat's milk formula. I don't have a problem with formula. But if my baby is awake and wired for 24 hours because some donor ate just one piece of chocolate... I'd rather do formula.
I would donate, having said that. But just not accept. I know I'm OK but I don't know about you LOL.
Registered User
You can use your EMB in bubba's bath water .. very good for their skin. As has been said, you can use it in their solids also. Just make sure about the dates.
I donated my milk with dd to the milk bank. They use it in state hossies for prem babies and I had loads so did not see a problem there, BUT I was screened for AIDS/HIV before hand and signed a form of consent that my milk would be used, that I don't smoke/drink/do drugs ect ect ect. I just expressed at home, freezed and brought in when I visited dd in hossie. After she got out, I stopped expressing, but there were a service that would come and pick it up at my house for free once a week. It was just to much to express with a new bubba that would not sleep
As for me using someone else's milk ... sure if I know that person and approve their lifestyle. Why not. I know of ppl (few generations back) that were breastfed by a neighbour or a friend. No expressing, just popping them on the breast for the first few weeks. There was nothing wrong with that .. I have to add that that was before AIDS.
Registered User
Have you seen this article?
Australian mothers beg for black market breast milk | NSW/ACT | News.com.au
Apparantly this is more common than we realise...
AFM, yes, I would use someone else's EBM if I knew they were fit and healthy etc. But I would be very cautious.
2013 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.
I would use EBM as long as I knew it was 'clean' (I don't really know about what would make breastmilk clean or unclean, but yeah knowing someone was screened I would use their breastmilk).
On a side note, a family on the Sunshine Coast were asking for EBM donors for their 8yo (i think around that age) as they had found a link between breastmilk and keeping childhood cancer at bay. They make her a milkshake every day, and she is in remission I think. Interesting read actually... I'd better read it again as I'm a bit forgetful of the details... google 'Breast milk used in cancer fight'
Last edited by Indadhanu; June 9th, 2009 at 06:03 AM.
Registered User
HI,
Just a note to say that, goats milk formula is not allergen free. A fairly high proportion of children who are cows milk intolerant are also goats milk intolerant - so if it works for you, that's good, but it won't work for everyone.
This is an interesting discussion. It interests me that formula is not a sterile product, and has been tested and found to have reasonably high bacterial loads. But few seem to question this.
Registered User
Hmmm.......... maybe I should sell it on ebay, lol.
Oooh........I have some in the fridge thats been there a couple of days that I should have frozen but never got around to, maybe I'll use if for that. Although DD has baths with DH at night, lol, wonder what he'd say. Maybe I'll just run the bath and put it in and he'll think it's the QV oil, hahaha.
Registered User
hehehe - shhhhhhh It'll be our little secretwonder what he'd say. Maybe I'll just run the bath and put it in and he'll think it's the QV oil, hahaha.
Your skin too ... maybe you should have a bath with her?
Registered User
You really got me thinking, so I googled and I found this:
Things to Do with Your Extra Breastmilk
I especially like the popsicles one!!!!Most mothers who pump milk for their babies keep extra in the freezer just in case of emergency. Breastmilk does not stay good in the freezer forever, however. What do you do with the breastmilk that you do not use? It would be a shame for it to go to waste. Here are some tips and tricks
from other mothers on what you can do with your frozen breastmilk leftovers.
Freeze breastmilk in ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop out the breastmilk cubes and store them in a zip-top freezer bag. You can go back to your stash from time to time when you need some and take only one cube of breastmilk at a time rather than heat up an entire bag of milk for one small application.
To treat an insect sting, take a frozen cube of breastmilk and apply it to the sting area. Hold it there until melted.
Breastmilk cures pinkeye (conjunctivitis). Just express a little breastmilk or thaw one of your cubes and rinse your eye with it several times a day.
If your baby is teething, wrap a cube or two of frozen breastmilk in a thin washcloth and secure it tightly with a heavy rubber band. Let baby chew and suck on the cube. It will taste good as it melts and the cold will make baby's gums feel better.
To treat diaper rash or yeast infections, give baby (or yourself) a bath in warm water mixed with lots of breastmilk. The milk is soothing to the skin and will also help to kill the infection. Milk baths will also soften your skin.
Breastmilk can be used to treat acne and soften your skin. Apply to skin in the evenings before bed or mix into a facial mask and apply. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes before rinsing.
Breastmilk can cure an ear infection. Melt one of your frozen cubes and use a medicine dropper to gently squirt it into the ear canal several times a day.
Breastmilk makes a great ingredient for toddlers' popsicles. When you freeze your own popsicles at home, add breastmilk to the recipe instead of water. You can also freeze plain milk popsicles.
Breastmilk can cure all types of infection. Use it to treat cuts, bruises, scrapes, and minor infections. You can apply breastmilk to your baby's cord stump or to a circumcision wound. Breastmilk can also be used on burns and to soothe chicken pox itch.
Registered User
I have to say that I wouldn't. I can't get past the fact that EBM is someone's body fluid!! The way I also look at it is that breast milk is only as good as the person that is making it..so yes they test for infectious diseases (which as someone else pointed out is not always foolproof) but they don't test peoples diet and other factors that effect the quality of the milk. So i wouldn't use it.But i have no problem with people that feel they would use it..it's good to have choices in this world.
Life Subscriber
That's an interesting point Rachel. However,there really is no such things as "poor quality" milk. You don't need a great diet to produce bm, and bm is all of a high quality. The real risk is either disease transmission, or harmful substances such as drugs in the milk. With the bm banks, the donors are screened, the milk has been pasteurised (and this has been shown to eliminate harmful things), and the donors also commit to keeping alcohol and mediation use within safe limits. If there were more bm banks around, and they had the funds to accept all the donations on offer, this really would be a fantastic service and would save a fortune in health dollars.
It's interesting to me that so many people are concerned about what's in bm without giving a thought to the fact that there is no way of knowing what is in formula. Studies have shown that the content in each batch of formula varies, and almost without fail contains some contaminants. Yet this seems to be less concerning to people. It's interesting the way we are more scared of natural products than man made!
Registered User
I thought about this a little more and it is so true what MR has said! Do we ever question what sort of paddock a cow is in, whether it has been sprayed with pesticides?? No, we just drink the damn carton without a thought in the world.
Registered User
I'd be happy to use EBM if I had a premmie baby because my gut feeling is that they really need it.
And I'd be happy to donate milk.
But I wouldn't be happy to use EBM for a baby that was a few months old. I don't have a good scientific reason for this. Just in my own experience, DD had my EBM for two months (and subsequently formula) and has been to the doctors once in two years. The other babies in Mothers Group who were fully breastfed have been sick way more often so that makes me concerned about using other people's EBM. I know that runs contrary to all the research out there but that has been my experience.
Having said that, I think that Milk Banks are a fantastic idea and I fully support them for people who want to use them. I would be more than happy to donate to them but wouldn't necessarily use their services myself.
Registered User
I know what you mean, cause this was my immediate reaction..but really when you think about it, we drink bodily fluids from animals all the time...that's much more icky, really. And going back years ago, it was quite acceptable (wet-nursing).
There was something about this on the Today show this morning. Seems there is a milk bank here on the coast. And it was either there or somewhere else they mentioned that atm it is all free, but they may need to introduce a 'handling fee' I think they called it, to cover costs...maybe $10 a bottle...whcih made me go 'whoa, that's expensive!'
So, would you pay $10 for a bottle, when a tin of formula is significantly less?
It would be a shame if mothers were priced out of screened EBM when they really wanted it or needed it.
It has made me think too...my sis is also PG...yes I would feed her baby...I guess I would let her feed mine? TBH I'd never considered it before. Interesting.
Moderator
If I had a premmie baby or my baby was in NICU I wouldn't hesitate. Why would I settle for second best when my baby needs the very best nutrition it can get. One of our members helped feed her neices' baby while her neice waited for her milkk to come in. Although it was against hospital policy the middies just pretended they hadn't noticed.
My DH was BF by his Aunt and he's turned out ok.
Since donated EBM is in very short supply I wouldn't use it for a healthy baby because I think the need of sick babies is greater.
If I had milk and someone I knew needed it I would be more than happy to donate EBM or put their baby on my boob.
I would be more than happy to use another Mamas breast milk. When Imogen was born extremely premature I was so so sick and my milk despite 2nd hourly expressing wouldn't come. A ml was like gold! So, I organised a friend to express and bring it up to the Brisbane hospital for me... I told no one. It was day 4post birth and I refused Imogen being fed formula as I knew how detrimental formula can/is for a premmies belly... Anyway just having done that must have relaxed me enough and in my milk came! Thank goodness! But I was so overwhelmingly (Im tearing up just writing this) grateful that my friend would do this for me.
I thinkit's interesting how some are quite opposed in the general populus and worried about diet etc... Yet, the additives and impurities found in formula is also documented.
When DD13 was about 6 months old a woman in my homebirth group had a baby with trisomy 21. He was a sick little fella and she due to the stress couldn't express. I along with numerous othr women expressed and she exclusively fed him expressed ebm. I remember the absolute gatitude in her eyes...
I see my boobie milk as a gift. I would gladly share it - readily breastfeed at my breast anothers bubby (and have done) and would allow another to feed my baby at her breast (and have done!).
I agree we have to be mindful of diseases - but I trust the women I know well enough to do this for me and I assume them with me likewise...
Go the sharing of booby milk I say!
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