Breastmilk for sale

I love the idea of donated breast milk - especially for babies who can't drink formula. But the thought of breast milk for profit? Ick. It seems like high-tech wet nursing to me. I actually did donate to the local hospital's milk bank, but I don't think I would for a for-profit milk bank.

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THe thing about this story is that there are non-profit milk banks and now there is one that has women donate, which it turns around and sells for profit. Non-profits have been around a long time; it would be a shame for mothers to think they are donating for a cause- feeding preemis mostly, and to have it sold to enrich stockholders.

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I was blessed/cursed with a huge oversupply for my first child. He'd never developed a latch, so I pumped for him for his first year. I looked into the Mothers Milk Bank in San Jose and, while I appreciate what they're doing, I wanted to explore some other donating options. I really wasn't into someone charging so much money for milk. (They incur lots of expenses in pasturizing and all that, I know. But still...)

I found, via a group of exclusively pumping moms, a woman who hooks up folks who need breastmilk with folks who have some to donate. She got me in touch with a family who had recently adopted a baby and were in the process of trying to start up lactation so the new mom could breastfeed. I ended donating to them over $3000 worth of breastmilk.

I know in this litigious society I could have been setting myself up for all sorts of problems. But it fortunately worked out really well for everyone involved!

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I THOUGHT I heard something about 'mother's milk' on NPR's 'Marketplace' the other day--I was very curious, unfortunately, I never got to hear the actual piece. I'd have to agree with Kira though; 'donating' my milk to a 'for-profit' milk bank just seems wrong to me. On the other hand, donating my milk to a bank that in turn donates it back to women in need is definitely something I'd do.

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The San Jose MM Bank is not a for-profit bank! It's part of HMBANA, the non-profit organisation. The recently-established for-profit bank is Prolacta (collection arm the "National Milk Bank") - which sells milk to hospitals (not direct to women) for over 1000% of the HMBANA price.

Perhaps this could be clarified in this entry so as not to give the wrong impression of HMBANA and San Jose.

This article is worth a read, "Land of milk and money":
http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20060327012622202

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I have to question what goodness is left in the breastmilk after pasteurization... I highly doubt the highly-touted antibodies and all that jazz are still intact. I mean - they pasteurize to kill off any weird viruses, etc.

And if there is, in fact, not much difference between pasteurized breastmilk and formula, aren't these milk banks just 'milking' the guilt of mothers that cannot breastfeed (for whatever reasons)?

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I am sorry I don't think that is right. $3 per ounce is stupid! I mean people DONATED this! I wouldn't DONATE because they get paid for it. Just like I don't donate to good will or any of them because they turn around a sell it for outragious prices. I used freecycle.org because usually the items are going to a family that can use it.

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Most milk banks in the UK are not for profit, they must cover their costs within the National Health service or run on charitable funds. Many run with volunteers and job sharing. As one contributor rightly says this is to most a labour of love. Milk Banking is developing across the globe and maybe the push for profit in some quarters is more attractive than the push for Best for babies.

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