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The New York Times wrote an interesting article called, "Picking Source of Baby's Milk." In it, the author describes a situation where, when Bevil Conway and his partner brought their premature babies home from the hospital, they decided it was important to provide a 100 percent human breast milk diet. Of course, they couldn't nurse themselves (though wouldn't it be lovely if men could nurse?), so they took to friends and the Internet to find breast milk.
What they found were four people from around their hometown who were willing to share, and they were able to store enough in their freezer to feed the twins continuously for 14 months. All of it was free for them.
But, in their quest to capitalize on the benefits of breast milk, are parents ignoring the risks of buying unpasteurized and untested milk?
Breast milk has enormous health benefits. It’s considered the ideal nutrition for infants, and it contains antibodies and other protective immune factors that appear to prevent childhood obesity, protect against bite problems, reduce the risk of breast cancer in breastfeeding mom, and even lower the risk of SIDS. Neonatal intensive care units insist on breast milk for the smallest babies because it drastically improves their prospects.
In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended it exclusively for all babies up to six months of age and mixed with solid foods for up to a year. But it also is a bodily fluid that can harbor harmful bacteria and viruses, including H.I.V., and H.I.V.-positive mothers can transmit the virus to babies through their milk.
Which means, if you buy milk from a friend or off the Internet, you are taking a risk they have not disclosed something as simple as a cold, but as risky as a disease.
According to the Retrospective Review of Serological Testing of Potential Human Milk Donors, which reviewed if peer-to-peer milk donation is safe, nearly four percent of the potential donors tested positive for a life-threatening disease. What if four percent of the milk you fed your baby transferred a life-threatening disease?
That’s why reputable milk banks test, test, and test again the milk that is donated. They also pasteurize it, which processes it in a way that makes it possible to feed to any baby. Some milk banks take this further and ensure the milk is free of bacteria, drugs of abuse, and virus. These additional steps are taken because milk donated to these milk banks are used to make nutritional products for hospitalized premature babies, the most fragile of premature babies. Parents need to make the decisions that best support their family and the needs of their baby. An informed parent is the best voice for their baby.