http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/nyregion/thecity/14fyi.html?_r=1&oref=slog
in

A Mother's Memory
By MICHAEL POLLAK
Published: May 14, 2006
A Mother's Memory

 
Stuart Goldenberg
Q. My late mother, who grew up in Yorkville, told me that as a little girl
she would take the subway "all the way downtown" to get breast milk for her
twin baby brothers. She remembered that the milk was free, and that it came
from contributing mothers who were also poor. Is there a record of this?

A. Yes. The organization was called the Mother's Milk Bureau. It was founded
in 1921 and run until about 1950 by the Children's Welfare Federation, a
consortium of service groups. It provided nourishment for premature and sick
babies whose mothers could not nurse them adequately. The New York Times
reported in 1938 that the bureau's central station was at 34th Street and
Ninth Avenue, and that in 1937 it distributed more than 5,000 quarts of milk
to 600 babies.

"More than 45 mothers, who have passed strict physical examinations, now
come daily to the bureau and contribute an average of 15 ounces of milk at
each visit," The Times reported. "The milk is then pasteurized and subjected
to a quick freezing process" using dry ice.

In 1936, the mothers were paid 13 cents an ounce plus carfare. Their milk
was sold to hospitals for 25 cents and to private individuals for up to 30
cents an ounce; the impoverished got it free.

After World War II, the federal act that supported milk banks expired. The
New York program was phased out as the use of commercial infant formula
became widespread. Later, fear of AIDS transmission reduced donor milk banks
in the United States to fewer than 10.

As interest in breastfeeding and mother's milk has risen, along with
evidence of safety, milk banks have made a comeback, but there are no
regular ones in New York. More information is at www.hmbana.org, the Human
Milk Banking Association of North America.

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