Posted on 07/28/2005 10:23:26 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A Madison group that promotes breastfeeding is finalizing plans to establish a "milk depot" where mothers can donate excess breast milk for distribution to others.
The concept has been around for years in other states, but Wisconsin has no such facility, said Jill Innes, a member of the Madison Breastfeeding Promotion Network.
After the milk is heat-treated to kill any bacteria and viruses, it is consumed by babies who are premature, who have allergies or immune system problems or whose mothers have trouble producing enough milk, said Innes, a public health nurse for the Madison Department of Public Health. Mothers who donate milk are screened for infectious diseases and health problems.
The health department supports the effort but is not involved financially, Innes said.
The group's ultimate goal is to establish a full-scale milk bank that would not only collect milk but also treat and distribute it. Initially, the Madison depot will ship the milk to Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio in Columbus. The Ohio milk bank is one of eight in the country, according to the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.
The Madison group is completing an agreement with the Ohio milk bank that will ensure Wisconsin babies get milk donated by Wisconsin mothers, Innes said.
Innes said she could not predict when the depot will open because the group is awaiting grant funding to buy a hospital-grade freezer.
Jeannie Manthe of Cottage Grove, a leader of the Madison chapter of La Leche League, a group that advocates breastfeeding, called the depot a wonderful idea and said her group gets occasional calls from mothers wanting to donate milk. The league supports and educates breastfeeding women.
Breast milk is important because it helps babies fight infection, have less diarrhea and avoid obesity and diabetes later in life, Manthe said. "It's really a better choice than going to something on the shelf."
Manthe recalled one instance locally in which a mother pumped breast milk for about six weeks while her baby was ill. The baby ultimately died, and the mother donated the milk to a bank in another state, Manthe said.
Maybe it's just a male thing, but EWWWW!
Another dairy state first.
LOL, that was my comment "EWWWWWW" but you beat me to it.
Stay away from the street that has the blood, milk and sperm bank locations. (Or make sure you deposit at the right one!) ;-)
Humans drinking human milk is disgusting, but humans drinking cow milk is OK.
Strange world.
A friend of mine adopted a baby who would be dead were it not for milk banks. The foster family had been feeding the baby root beer. You can imagine the shape she was in.
Got milk?
Kinda like gutting a fish doesn't bother me a bit but gutting a person.....
I think this is a wonderful idea. Preemies especially do much better on breast milk and many mothers are not able to keep up a full milk supply for these tiny babies that are not physically able to nurse yet. Would people say Ewwww if they needed a blood transfusion? Nope don't think so. Really why is storing human milk any different from cow's milk? Human milk is much better than cow's milk for human babies. Formula does not and cannot completely mimic the composition of human milk.
This I gotta hear.
Hey...I come from a dairy background farmers,buttermakers,cheesemakers etc..so did my X...youd have thought she found humor in this...
It's not like I set up a little churn or minature cheese vat on the kitchen counter or anything..
I agree, a milk bank would be as beautiful as a sperm bank. They are both life giving.
"It's not like I set up a little churn or minature cheese vat on the kitchen counter or anything..."
LOL! Thanks for the chuckle.
All I can think of is "The Simpsons" episode where the gangsters are milking rats, and the kids at school are drinking rat milk. Now THAT was gross!
If women want to donate their milk, I say go for it. I'm not sure it's smart to not have the FDA overseeing this, though. What happens when the first lawsuit hits when a baby gets sick due to tainted breast milk? Has that been a problem with the other eight-odd centers like this in the US? I don't know because I've never heard of this set-up before.
I hope they'll be screening it for AIDS.
Pardon me for being blunt but are you being intentially obtuse? It's referred to as an analogy and the point being certain things concerning animals ie drinking cows milk, eating cows liver, gutting a fish, dissecting a frog etc etc are perfectly acceptable to many of us, however, when the same activities involve human beings the perception of acceptability dramatically changes.
Breast milk cheese...
Ya know, there's probably a market for that someplace.
San Francisco?
I also think this is a great idea! I had a baby in April and have so much extra milk. I already have over 100lbs in the freezer right now. My daughter will be able to drink breastmilk for a long time.
My husband is always looking for some way to make a buck off our good fortune. He mentioned the cheese thing too. LOL. I would just love to be able to help someone else out.
The thing I have heard about these banks is that the mother donates the milk and then they sell it to people who need it for $4 an ounce. It would cost me close to $100 a day to feed my 3 month old. I don't like the fact that they profit.
Ok...I spoke too soon about how much they charge. They said thye just charge to recoop costs.
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