donated breastmilk - NPR story

vanilla15

Thought this was an interesting article.

One woman donated over 700 oz!!!! Seriously!?!  I have A LOT of milk frozen, but no where near 200 oz, much less 700!!!!

 https://www.npr.org/2011/01/24/133110199/moms-who-cant-nurse-find-milk-donors-online

parrotgirl

I had so much milk in my freezer that I just donated about 250 ounces of frozen bm to a local milk bank. That was only 3 months worth of BM. I still have probably another 300 in the freezer! When I wa searching online to find a local milk bank, I saw that so many women were buying and selling BM online. It's crazy! I went through a milk bank and it was a pretty extensive process, had to get qualified, then took a blood and DNA test. The milk then goes to the lab for further testing and then ultimately goes to premature and critically ill babies.

One lady donated over 1000 ounces in just one month (assuming it was accumulated over time)! and 500 ounces the month before. Crazy!! 

kinibruin

my gf told me over the holidays that she has enough breastmilk to last the next year. i think she's not breastfeeding anymore because her kid just turned over 2, but i think she was still going to finish up that supply with her. donating seems pretty cool too if there was that much.

Married2MrWright

I've donated my stash (over 100 oz) and continue to donate 30-40 oz/week to a local adoptive mom who found me via MilkShare.org. I gave her copies of my blood work and we discussed my health habits (diet, medications, etc.) before we agreed to the arrangement. She provided me with a box of Lanisoh freezer bags and we get together every 10 days or so and I give her the frozen stash.

We've become friends and she and her family attended Libby's party. She's getting milk from 4 moms and her baby is EBF and 3.5 months old now! The bio mom was using meth until the 5th month of pregnancy so we want to do what we can for this LO to get a goos start. FWIW, it's illegal in the US to sell BM. 

mrspresley

I don't have a problem with the idea of donated BM, I think it's great. of course if you had asked me this before I had a baby and struggled to BF, I would have told you that the idea grossed me out and I would never consider using donated BM.  but it's one of those things where you just don't know how you'll feel until you're in that kind of situation.

I think if you know the person... or like in Lori's case, if the donor is willing to share their bloodwork results, history, lifestyle etc the sharing should be ok.  (I never asked my friend for anything like that b/c I knew her personally) I'd be very reluctant to take milk from a complete stranger and just base it on trust or their word that they didn't carry any infectious diseases though! even though the woman in the article said that she doesn't worry about diseases b/c  'no one wants to be responsible for making another baby sick,' i think that's a naive perspective b/c you could also say 'who would ever want to harm a baby or child' and yet we have murderers and people who physically abuse children.  so I do think it's one of those things where as a society we need to 'proceed with caution'

I didn't read through all the comments to that article but the first one did catch my attention and I thought it was a great comment!

"Breast is best" should be changed to "Do your best with the breast, but formula is fine too". The number of new moms that are led to believe that they are bad moms if they don't breastfeed is outrageous. I have had countless friends and patients in tears, absolutely devastated that they couldn't breastfeed. Let me put it this way...this is the first step in an 18 year plus journey. You'll win some and you'll lose some...You will fail more often than you would like but you will often succeed. Know your limits and do your best. Love like you never knew you could and hope for the best. Nothing about being a parent is a guarantee. Know that. Live that. Let go of your failings or perceived failings and enjoy your successes. Be an example to your child because the same goes for him or her. But one thing you shouldn't do is allow your feelings about failing to breastfeed lead you to put your child's health at risk.

inamra

Haha, wow, yeah, I barely have much of a stash (~30 oz), so 700 is a lot to me

jaysgirljulie

mrspresley:

"Breast is best" should be changed to "Do your best with the breast, but formula is fine too". The number of new moms that are led to believe that they are bad moms if they don't breastfeed is outrageous. I have had countless friends and patients in tears, absolutely devastated that they couldn't breastfeed. Let me put it this way...this is the first step in an 18 year plus journey. You'll win some and you'll lose some...You will fail more often than you would like but you will often succeed. Know your limits and do your best. Love like you never knew you could and hope for the best.

Love this quote Jamie!

Wow, some women really can make some milk!!! I was so happy when I got up to the 200 0z mak in my freezer. Maybe if Ryan actually BF beond 8 weeks and not just EP, I think I would have had a lot more milk than that... but probably not 700, wow!

lola808

inamra:

Haha, wow, yeah, I barely have much of a stash (~30 oz), so 700 is a lot to me

Ditto... and not for lack of trying, either!