Susan,
Last March my husband's grandchildren were placed with us as foster
children.  The baby was just 4 weeks old when we first met her and appeared
to be FTT (no official diagnosis).  Given my passion for bfing I couldn't
bear the thought of giving her formula.  We had about 4 weeks until the
children were placed in our home.  During that time (I was nursing an 18
month old) I began attempting to increase my milk supply (via pumping, herbs
and once it arrived domperidone).  I set up a network of donor moms and
began collecting and storing breastmilk (I knew most of them personally and
didn't do any paperwork, most were already milk bank donors -- i.e.
screened -- and giving me milk from times they'd taken Tylenol or had a
toddler with a runny nose -- i.e. couldn't use that milk for donation
purposes).  Knowing CPS would never sanction this feeding method without
safety precautions I worked on the assumption that whatever the Milk Bank
did to their milk should suffice for this situation.  I called the Milk Bank
here in Austin and got their protocol on pasteurizing (milk bank workers
help me out with the particulars here).

> An adoptive mother nursing a 3 week old has asked me for information on a
"home pasteurization > kit" to be used to pasteurize donated human milk.

Basically: they receive milk frozen, when ready to pasteurize it they thaw,
mix the milk from several donors, pour into 4 oz glass jars, (cap?), heat in
the pasteurizes to a specific temperature (63.4 degrees centigrade, I think)
for a specific amount of time (again mush brain--10 min. maybe) -- the
temperature of the milk was to be determined by placing a designated "test"
bottle of breastmilk with a candy thermometer inserted through, sealed off
and held in place by a modified rubber/silicon nipple.  The temperature of
the milk and the amount of time it is held at that temp is what is
significant. Watching the readings on this "rigged" temperature gauge would
allow me to adjust the stove setting to keep everything "in bounds".  Once t
he heating process is complete allow the milk to cool in fridge, then
refreeze. The milk in the test bottle was never to be used for baby.  It
would be refrigerated and used over and over again.  Although the Milk Bank
uses (mostly) specialized equipment it would be fairly easy to use home
canning equipment or maybe home "brewing" equipment (for folks who make
their own spirits?) and a "rigged" temperature regulator to achieve the same
result.

Luckily our doctor immediately determined she was allergic to the formula
and wrote a prescription for banked breastmilk.  She began eating like
gangbusters and putting on weight.  Today baby is a very healthy one year
old (1-18-02) and has transitioned well to whole milk (although I'm still
keeping a close eye on this).

Dawn Martin
who can't say enough good things about Milk Banks
Austin, TX

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