Let's suppose I'm Mother A. I'm expressing milk for my premature baby
because doctor told me "it is the best food for your baby, it will protect
him against so many diseases, you know..." Three weeks later, doctor tells
me: "Baby B has been accidentally given your milk. Mother B is very
worried, it is so dangerous! Yo should inmediatelly be tested for HIV,
hepatitis B, C, D, E and F, chickenpox and myopia. Let's hope no
irreparable harm has been done." My reactions?
1. Inmediately stop expressing, and give formula instead to my baby.
2. Sue the doctor and the hospital, for giving such a dangerous milk to my
baby without informed consent and full testing.
Do you Lactnetters really think that breast milk is such a dangerous thing?
What if Baby B had received formula? That's the dangerous thing, and
happens thousands of times a day all over the world, and no one gets
nervous (hysterical?) about it.
Own's mothers milk is better than donated milk for several reasons, but
both of them are far much better than formula. Mother B should be assured
that this is a completely meaningless incident, and that any possible
future problem in her baby will be completely unrelated to this (hospital
acquired infections and cross-infections are common; health personnel, and
not breast milk, is the usual way of transmission).
Carlos Gonzalez, MD
Barcelona, Spain
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