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Donor Breast Milk In Short Supply, Even For Celebs
Donor milk for babies is hard to come by.
Breast is best. We all know this. Our doctors tell us, we see ads on the subway to remind us. Babies thrive on breastmilk.
Not everyone can breastfeed, though. Adoptive parents, couples parents who rely on a surrogate, and many moms whose health prevents them from breastfeeding their babies all need other options. For most of these parents, formula is the only alternative. And for most babies, it’s a perfectly good one.
For some babies, though, formula can cause digestive problems. Neil Patrick Harris’ new daughter is one of these babes. He and his partner, David Burtka, have infant twins. Their daughter struggled with formula, but finding donor breastmilk for her has been a challenge.
So many women have an oversupply of milk. It’s amazing that even those with the most resources have a challenging time getting donor milk for their babies.
It’s not the national milk supply that’s at issue, of course. It’s that we lack an infrastructure to share the milk. Informal networks of milk donors have sprung up on Facebook and elsewhere, but we’re lacking a real system to safely distribute donated breastmilk.
With so many parents eager to feed their babies human milk, and so many women happy to share their leftovers, there should be a better system for sharing. What we need are more milk banks that can certify the safety of r milk and store it properly.
The problem, course, is that while it’s a problem, creating an infrastructure for donor milk is few people’s first priority. Compared to the other public health and social challenges facing our communities, donor breastmilk quickly starts to look like a luxury. One few communities can afford to prioritize over other benefits like Medicaid, WIC and schools.
The Stir’s blogger thinks we should be allocating 5% of WIC’s budget to the creation and maintenance of donor milk banks. That’s a lot of dough. It would certainly create a wonderful system for sharing milk, but at what cost? What current benefits would WIC recipients have give up to get that donor milk? Would the trade off be worth it?
I don’t know the answers to those questions. I raise them only to make the point that this is a complex problem. Hopefully having a star like Neil Patrick Harris speaking out about it will attract more resources to finding a solution.
Photo: alberth2
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0 Comments
Charleen commented on Dec 27 10 at 7:44 pmThe author is wrong when she states that women who adopt or who use a surrogate cannot breastfeed. Most grown women with normal functioning breasts can manually induce lactation regardless of whether they have ever given birth or nor just as most women who have stopped stopped breastfeed and had their milk dry up can relactate. If you can manually induce lactation then you can breastfed. While manually inducing lactation or relacting is not often easy it is usually possible with the right techniques. It’s in the case of an adopting mother manually inducing lactation they refer to it as “adoptive breastfeeding”.
Nicky's mom commented on Dec 27 10 at 8:53 pmGood point Charleen. Inducing lactation is certainly a great option that I wish more people knew about and wished to explore. But it doesn’t always result in a full milk supply. Donor milk or formula are often required to supplement.
Great post, Sierra. There are so many obstacles to developing the infrastructure you spoke of…namely money. I hope the powers that be will realize that giving babies human milk is worth the time, energy and money it takes to establish safe and reliable milk banking systems. I had a massive oversupply of milk when my son was a baby. I would have loved to donate my milk but the closest milk bank was in another state. What a waste!
Linda, the original one commented on Dec 27 10 at 11:11 pmWhile I obviously think that inducing lactation is a worthy pursuit, I disagree with your contention that “most women” can do it or it’s “usually possible.” I’ve known several women who have worked really hard to breastfeed adopted babies and even more who have relactated after quitting breastfeeding prematurely and IME, it’s actually quite rare that these women can produce enough milk to feed their babies. I think it’s a particular struggle for those who were never pregnant. I’m not saying I don’t think it’s a worthwhile quest, but to make it sound like with the right amount of dedication, anyone can do it doesn’t all jive with the reality I’ve seen as an active LLL member and breastfeeding mom.
mbaker commented on Dec 28 10 at 11:07 amI had an oversupply last time and wanted to donate milk but couldn’t find the information in time to do so. Now I am able to find the time but often the rules and regulations are so onerous and require me to take a lot of time that I don’t have in order to do so. For example, one milk bank requires me to drive an hour one way to drop off my milk and another won’t let me donate if I’m on certain medicines that my dr says are safe for breast feeding mothers.
Until milk banks are better publicized and the procedures for donating don’t add yet another big burden onto the shoulders of already overwhelmed new mothers then the milk banks will continue to run short of supply.
Carrie commented on Dec 28 10 at 11:57 amI really wish I could have supplied some milk to a milk donor place, but with all of the restrictions and papers to fill out, I knew I wouldn’t qualify. It is a real shame that it isn’t easier to do. Even with some potential health issues one has had in the past or does have now, breast milk is still 100% better than formula.
Doula Brandi commented on Dec 28 10 at 12:28 pmTry Eats on Feets (http://www.eatsonfeets.org/) It is a fairly new program helping connect mothers who have extra milk with those who need extra milk.
Lorelei commented on Dec 28 10 at 12:32 pmHaving been a wic recipient, I’d say the whole program needs to be revamped (30 cans of tuna, anyone?) to better provide for recipient nutritive needs… And that by doing so, that 5% could be withheld without sacrificing the benefits for these women.
Charleen commented on Dec 28 10 at 10:24 pmJust to clarify, I didn’t say most women could EXCLUSIVELY breastfeed through manually induced lactation or relactation just that they could breastfeed. Rarely does breastfeeding need to be all or nothing as there are many ways to combine breastfeeding and formula feeding that still allows breastfeeding to continue long term. One way many adopted moms make it work is to use a supplemental nursing system which supplies formula via a tube attached to the breast so the baby can breastfeed while being supplemented with formula as needed. That way baby gets the health and other benefits of breastfeeding at the breast while being ensured of getting enough milk via formula supplementation.
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