When I was breastfeeding with my first baby, I had a low supply and many issues with pain/blood blisters etc. When I pumped, I could only get 1 oz at a time after 40 minutes of pumping! I always wanted to donate my breastmilk but just couldn't pump enough. Plus my little guy had a hard time gaining weight so I had to really focus on nursing around the clock to try and plump him up!
This time around, Phoenix latched right on after birth and has nursed like a champ ever since. I have not encountered any problems at all and Finn has gained weight fabulously! I have a tremendous supply this time and wanted to share my good fortune with other less fortunate mamas. I started pumping and posted a little post in my mama group through my midwifery on facebook seeing if anyone needed any milk. I had 12 responses in less than an hour! I ended up sharing my milk to a wonderful couple with a 5 month old little girl. The mamas are both involved with Alma (the place I gave birth) one as a midwife and her partner as the head of the education space. They unfortunately dealt with a very low supply, and after trying everything (even a prescription to up her milk supply that didn't work) they decided to try and get donated milk to help supplement her supply. I am currently donating about 50-60 oz of my milk every week to them. I love being able to help their little girl grow with the best stuff on earth!
Breastmilk sharing is becoming more accepted, although La Leche League and government agencies advise against it in all cases, I completely disagree with their stance.
If you need breastmilk, you could go to your local milk bank, where milk is screened and then SOLD to needy families for $3-$5 an oz (the donor gets paid nothing because it is illegal to paid for your milk but the milk bank uses that money to pay for screening processes and probably makes a little money off the top too). The problem with this system is that only people who can pay upwards of $800/week (average baby drinks 25 oz a day) for precious breastmilk can access it. That makes it available to the elite in society but not to anyone else. In my eyes, everyone should have equal access to this liquid gold that allows their babies to thrive. Money should not be an obstacle in obtaining such important nutrition! And insurance only covers the cost of it if it's a medical need, which is rare in their eyes of course because they don't want to incur the expensive cost of breastmilk.
The alternative to this system is to find a breastmilk donor and cut out the middle man (the milk bank). The advantages to this of course is access to free breastmilk! The disadvantage of course is that you need to make sure the person donating the breast milk has no disease/drug use that can transferred through their milk. This is pretty common sense and as long as you know the person, it should be fine! I mean how many breastfeeding mamas do you know that are crackheads?
If you are interested in this topic please read this blog by my Midwifery that sheds light on the case for breastmilk sharing: Milk Sharing and visit Eats on Feets to get connected with other mamas in your area in need of breastmilk. I encourage anyone with any extra milk to donate! Spread the love and nutrition that breastmilk provides!
Lovely, lady! I completely agree!
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