I only have personal experience to offer on this subject. I also had  to 
use donor milk because of a cancer dx/treatment. This was also a problem for  
me, and I suspect it is because of moving and transporting the milk and the 
milk  "hitting" each other and causing the problem. We used plastic grocery 
bags to  transport the milk maybe a box or bin would be better and less 
hitting. I found  the gerber to be the worst and had leaks many times, then 
lansinoh had a  few and never had a leak with Medela. (Still mad at them for not 
being code  complaint! But the bags were my fave since I could count on 
them not  to leak.) It was very frustrating to not know until after it starts 
to  thaw which ones had holes/rips! I personally hated to throw the milk out 
(and  needed all I could get in the beginning not knowing how much milk I 
would be  able to get) so I thawed it in a clean container that had a lid in 
the  fridge and it would catch the milk as it thawed and I would use it. My 
baby was  a healthy full term baby. 
 
Also, here is some of what I posted before on this sort of topic 
"I would say at least half of the breastmilk that was used  was past 6 mth 
old and the oldest was just shy of 12 mths old and I had  about 2 wks worth 
of it that I couldn't bear to throw away and not use, so  I used it.  

I can't even count how many times that I broke this rule "finish or throw  
away within an hour of the start of a feed" due to him not wanting it all, 
or  falling asleep, or traveling and out and about, leaving it by my bed so 
he can  finish it when he would wake in the middle of the night, taking a 
cold bottle of  milk and having it warm up in the diaper bag while out and then 
feed it to him  etc
 
My son never showed any taste dislike or stomach upset or other signs of  
trouble from this. I was such a rule person before this! But daily life and  
a real crying baby came into play and the practicality of trying to feed him 
 that didn't lend it self to following all the "rules" for which I didn't 
see an  overwhelming amount of evidence for the healthy full term baby. I 
also  wondered if many of these rules comes from what we say about formula and 
just  stuck them on breastmilk. AND no big studies on breastmilk use.  This 
is what I became comfortable with doing for my baby after  seeing no effects 
on my baby. If I had seen things I would have changed  things. Thankfully 
due to me being sick I am not leading nursing mom meetings or  taking phone 
calls anymore because it would be hard for me to list all the rules  for a 
mom now that I truly understand about trying to follow them and that also  
goes the same for the La Leche League statement on using donor milk. I  say 
give moms all the info (or lack of info regarding these issues!) and risks  and 
let them decide how to handle it. Perhaps you can say these are the rules  
but I knew of a mom who did this....."
 
 
And an update for those who had followed my posts about my  situation--- my 
baby just turned 2 years old on Sept 8 and he  still gets donor milk, about 
9oz a day and we will have enough donor milk to get  him till the end of 
November! You have no idea how comforting this has been to  me that at least 
he got milk this long since I am used to nursing for years his  other 
siblings. 
 

Kim Ann Lorber
 
LLL Leader Quad Cities IA/IL
[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask]) 
_http://cancercaughtme.blogspot.com/_ (http://cancercaughtme.blogspot.com/) 


 
 
In a message dated 9/28/2011 8:36:15 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Permission to post: a mother who is exclusively using donor milk  for her 2 
week old infant due to double mastectomy asked me about using milk  that 
has minute holes in the bag that are only discovered as the milk  thaws.  
These small tears occurred during transfer of milk to other  freezers during 
hurricane Irene.  The milk had been stored in a chest  freezer and mom thinks 
when they grabbed bags of milk to store elsewhere in a  hurry, the damage to 
some bags occurred.  She's wondering if she needs to  discard this milk?  
The dilemma is that she can't separate them from  intact bags since she 
doesn't see the hole or tear until milk leaks from bag  during defrosting.  
Understandably, she doesn't want to discard the milk  unless absolutely necessary. 
 

Thoughts, anyone?  I'm unsure  of any absolutes with this and wonder about 
the risk/benefit ratio in regard  to later formula use when she runs out of 
milk.  Also, she questioned if  there's any research about using milk that 
has been frozen for over a year in  a deep freezer chest.  Someone's recent 
post about this, too, hasn't  received any responses yet either.  Thank you.

Barbara Latterner,  BSN, RN, IBCLC




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