Would You Feed Your Baby Another Woman's Breast Milk? This Mom Does.
Meet a mom who uses a mom-to-mom milk sharing website.
Sure, you'll share used cribs, outgrown baby clothes, and even changing tables. But what about breast milk?
When Rachael Lawrence Fisher had breast milk supply issues after the birth of her son, her doctor wrote her a prescription for breast milk from a milk bank. But when she discovered that a year's supply would cost nearly $55,000, ("My husband's entire salary!"), she turned to Eats on Feets—a site that facilitates woman-to-woman milk sharing via locally based Facebook pages. The sites skip the milk bank step and help women coordinate the donating and receiving of breast milk directly.
Though the FDA warns against feeding children unscreened breast milk, due to potential contamination from disease, drugs or chemicals, Fisher isn't concerned. "HIV and other diseases can be killed by pasteurization at home, and women who carry those diseases are encouraged NOT to nurse, so they're not likely to be donating their breast milk," she says. "Also, it's not as if formula feeding is without risk—think about melamine and beetle contamination of the past few years."
Rachael says if her donor milk situation works out, she might try to keep it up until her son is a year old.
What about YOU? Would you share your breast milk with babies in need? Would you accept "raw" milk from another mother?
report abuseWhen Rachael Lawrence Fisher had breast milk supply issues after the birth of her son, her doctor wrote her a prescription for breast milk from a milk bank. But when she discovered that a year's supply would cost nearly $55,000, ("My husband's entire salary!"), she turned to Eats on Feets—a site that facilitates woman-to-woman milk sharing via locally based Facebook pages. The sites skip the milk bank step and help women coordinate the donating and receiving of breast milk directly.
Though the FDA warns against feeding children unscreened breast milk, due to potential contamination from disease, drugs or chemicals, Fisher isn't concerned. "HIV and other diseases can be killed by pasteurization at home, and women who carry those diseases are encouraged NOT to nurse, so they're not likely to be donating their breast milk," she says. "Also, it's not as if formula feeding is without risk—think about melamine and beetle contamination of the past few years."
Rachael says if her donor milk situation works out, she might try to keep it up until her son is a year old.
What about YOU? Would you share your breast milk with babies in need? Would you accept "raw" milk from another mother?
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