Recently there has been a trend for mothers who are not able to breast feed to obtain milk from mothers who have a surplus of breast milk. While the giving of breast milk to another female is a nobel act, there are some concerns the recipient should be aware of.
The FDA does not recommend the sharing of breast milk primarily because it can lead to transmission of infections. Moreover the manner in how the milk may be stored or collected may also not be safe and pose a risk to the newborn baby.
Currently the FDA recommends that women who want to obtain breast milk use the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, where donors have been screened and certain precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of the milk. So far this agency has done a great job and no infections or any adverse reactions have been reported
Unfortunately, milk sharing has now become a profitable business venture and many websites have cropped up. Sites like onlythebreast.com and eatsonfeets.org, offer breast milk but it does not come cheap. An ounce can cost as much as $5. So if you want to feed your baby breast milk, that can cost anywhere from $40-$50 a day.
These breast sharing websites have no quality control, except trust on part of the donating mum. Some mothers who donate do heat pasteurize the milk to inactive any possible HIV.
Milk sharing is nothing new and has been practiced in developing and third world countries for centuries. However, all mothers hold be aware that this is not an innocuous practice. The FDA says, "Risks for the baby include exposure to infectious diseases, to chemical contaminants such as some illegal drugs, and to a limited number of prescription drugs that might be in the human milk, if the donor has not been adequately screened."
Finally, if the chinese can add dry-wall to their milk products, there is no reason why someone in north america can't add regular milk bought from a grocery store, mix it with a little breast milk and sell it at an enormous profit!
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