The pros and cons of milk sharing

There are many reasons you might need breast milk for your baby: You aren't producing enough, you adopted, you had a surrogate, you're sick, or you're taking medication that won't allow you to nurse. And, because the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends your child be breastfed for a minimum of six months, you feel guilty about buying formula. It stands to reason, then, you could buy breastmilk from your neighbor or off the web, right? Wrong.

Is peer-to-peer milk sharing safe?

The dirty little secret about peer-to-peer sharing of unpasteurized breastmilk is a surprising amount contains viruses. According to the Retrospective Review of Serological Testing of Potential Human Milk Donors, which reviewed whether or not peer-to-peer milk donation is safe, nearly 40 of the potential donors tested positive for a life-threatening disease.

Of 1091 potential donors, 3.3% were positive on screening serology, including 6 syphilis, 17 hepatitis B, 3 hepatitis C, 6 HTLV [human T cell lymphotropic virus] and 4 HIV.

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. They are ensuring the milk any baby is fed is free of drugs, diseases, virus, alcohol, and anything else that might harm them through transmission.

Buying milk off the internet?

So why would anyone want to buy breastmilk off the Internet? Well, there are some who support and advocate buying or sharing. As an example, an article by lactation activist, Kathleen Gribble, states breastmilk is not a medicine, therefore it shouldn't be treated like a bodily fluid or tissue.

… [S]haring human milk between women and babies is perceived to be like sharing other bodily fluids or tissue. Because the practice of transfusion and of organ transplantation are heavily regulated by medicine (and for good reason), a culture that considers human milk to be another regulated bodily substance can only conceive of milk sharing as an activity that occurs rarely and under medical supervision. … [H]uman milk is not a medicine and, while it is a bodily fluid, it is not like blood. Human milk is a substance created in one body that is excreted in order to be ingested by another body.

We support the FDA guidelines regarding milk sharing.  The milk we use is screened, tested and pasteurized, which gives us the ability to provide the safest product to the fragile babies we treat have validated. What do you think about peer-to-peer milk sharing?