I’m all for various modes of parenting so long as they work for you and they’re healthy for both mother and child. Breastfeeding is great – super nutritionally beneficial for the baby, helpful for moms trying to ~shed the baby weight~, etc. Alicia Silverstone is mad about breastfeeding (and also about chewing her food and then putting it in her 2-year-old son’s mouth like a bird) and has devised a sharing scheme to help moms who are unable to breastfeed.
Here’s the plan as she described it on her website:
A couple weeks ago, another mama I know gave birth to a son. She e-mailed to let me know how things were going, and she was beside herself. She’d tried to do everything so that this baby would have the healthiest, happiest start in life–she nourished herself during pregnancy with clean, kind foods; had a beautiful home birth; and planned to breastfeed from now until her son could say, “No thanks.” But because of a breast reduction surgery, she found she wouldn’t be able to make enough milk for him, no matter how much precious boobie time they spent together. She tried reaching out in her community for donor milk, but it was almost impossible to figure out what kind of lifestyle choices the donors had made. And after all that hard work keeping herself vibrant and healthy, she felt she had a right to demand better for her baby.
A lot of women unfortunately have a similar struggle, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be able to give their babies the most amazing start in life with clean, mean, glorious breast milk. And because we are a community of beautiful souls who recognize the importance of food as health, I say we help support those mamas and babies who need a hand during one of the most important times in their lives. Welcome to the Kind Mama Milk Share, a way for moms to connect with other moms in their area. If you have milk to share–post it here! If you are in need of milk–post it here! Think of all the babies we can help raise together! It goes without saying that common sense precautions should be taken.
The comments section on her site is FULL of mothers both offering to donate their LARGE supply of breast milk and others looking to have some shipped. There are talks of Fed Ex shipments, blood tests for HIV and hepatitis and more. It’s all rather… strange, which makes me think I might not be as progressive as I’d like to think. In theory, this is a wonderful idea that’s totally natural and also fosters a community among new mothers, but on the other hand… your baby is drinking someone else’s titty milk. I don’t know! I’m so torn!
What do you guys think?
This isn’t new. Human Milk for Human Babies (http://hm4hb.net/) helps link up mamas with milk to donate with mamas who need milk. They have Facebook pages for different areas so you can link up with moms who are close to you. Of course, even with services like this, you don’t know the background of the donors. I believe there are companies that pasteurize the donated milk, but it costs money. HM4HB is free because all they do is provide the medium for finding one another.
Exactly what I was going to say. This isnt a new thought. I watched a show years ago on the health or discovery channel about a woman who had freezers full of breast milk since she produced so much and she would ship it out to other women who weren’t able to.
While I applaud Alicia Silverstone for her compassion for her friend’s plight and that of other families who want their babies to have the benefits of human milk but are unable to supply it themselves, her resourses and influence would be better spent supporting and raising awareness for the HMBANA Mothers’ Milk Banks that are already in existence. These nonprofit organizations have been providing safe human milk to NICUs and private recipients for decades. The donors are screened through an interview and blood test, the milk is pasturized (effectively killing any potentially harmful bacteria while preserving the beneficial bioactive components of the milk), and then the milk is tested afterwards for resistant bacteria. Lifestyle choices and disease are only part of why casually sharing breastmilk can be dangerous. Certain strains of bacteria in the right amounts could make a baby sick- particularily if that baby is already vulnerable (such as preterm babies who are common recipients because of their special health needs). It’s true that the milk banks charge for the milk, but they are nonprofit and the cost is actually less than what it costs to screen and process the milk. For anyone interested, here’s a link to one in CA: http://www.sanjosemilkbank.com. Others can be located through the HMBANA website.
I guess it’s admirable, and she has the best of intentions, but I just can’t get past the ‘ick’ factor. Sorry. I know I’ll get slammed by a bunch of women talking about how it’s natural and good for the baby, and all that. I get it, but ew. Just…ew.
Then again, I’m also one of those women who gets slightly annoyed/disgusted when I see women whipping it out in public, so whatev’s.
Not anything new, really. Wet nurses were a thing in some areas until the 1950s.