In the focus on the properties of human milk vs formula, the close physical relationship between mother and baby and the unique immunological benefits thereof are being totally missed. 

There is a difference between feeding with a bottle and nursing a baby. There is a nurturing and nutritive benefit to all that oxytocin flying around (thank you to Kirsten Berggren for sharing the research on oxytocin at the VLCA conference last month!). And this is perhaps the fundamental difference between mother to mother support and the medical perspective on human milk. Human milk, while the biological norm as far as milk goes, is milk. I am becoming more and more internally convinced that it is the relationship that matters. There will always be mothers who have so many difficulties with breastfeeding that the act supersedes the total relationship, the focus on the minutiae becomes more than the whole.. and the complex interplay between mother and infant is lost in the emphasis on ingredients. 

That said, we need formula manufacturer's to meet higher standards, milk banks to receive their donations for all the infants who so desperately need human milk to thrive and, as pointed out by James Akre - milk sharing will continue as women have a right and the intelligence to make informed choices for their infants. 

Regarding the escalation in allergies and the complicated issue of finding donors for babies who are acutely sensitive - sometime in the future, this culture will realize that the inadequate nutrition and immunological results of rampant artificial milks have taken their toll along with incredibly nutritionally void diets consumed by persons all over North America and the tide will turn. And a baby's best chance is still, IMHO, human milk with its "silicone sealing" properties and the live nutrients needed to promote good digestion. For myself, given a choice, I would pick milk sharing in a heartbeat and I agree with Sarah on one point - choices are important - and I will take it one step further - informed choices are imperative - until there is transparency in the formula industry and marketing to families is abolished - there is no informed choice being made. 

And isn't that playing right into the hands of the big manufacturers? When we reduce breastfeeding, or nursing a baby, to the components and forget the big picture? The immune system and good health depends as much on method of delivery as it does on composition and I will quote Jack Newman here : There is more to breastfeeding than breastmilk. 

I hope beyond hope, that as an IBCLC I never lose sight of the big picture and my goal is to help each mother find her sweet spot as a nursing mother - that place where she is able to tap into her innate body wisdom and thereby allow her and her child's full nature as a human to express itself.  

Well, what a great lively discussion and a great forum to learn yet more! Thank you Nikki for the info re: ingredients that don't have to be listed... 

Hope all had a sweet and loving Mother's Day.

Celina D, LLLL, Mother of 4 well informed daughters, IBCLC

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