Hi Sandra,
I think that there are challenges to more information sharing but perhaps it is necessary if donor shortages are a continuing problem that greater consideration as to how to make donation easier should be given. Perhaps it is not really about  the sharing of identifying information but about the sharing of information about the situation. Anyway, looks like there may be a hole in the literature in this area that would be worth filling. It's not simple.
Karleen Gribble
Australia



> n involve several recipients and donors.
> This may be different in milk banks with very low volume or very few
> donors. Otherwise, the obvious solution would be to stop pooling milk, but
> that would be for a different discussion.
> 
> 2-In most donations, there is some reciprocity to any identity disclosure
> (excluding "open id" programs for gamete donations). It would not be
> ethical to reveal the identity of a consenting donor if the recipient
> family did not wish to be identified. It would be very interesting to
> research the attitudes of recipients towards disclosure. I suspect they
> would not be nearly as enthusiastic as the donors. We have to keep in mind
> that milk bank milk is very much used under the "medication" paradigm and
> that those who use it for their infants may not have any prior experience
> with milksharing as a concept. Until society has caught up with us, it may
> actually be more effective not to offer disclosure to most recipients.
> Again, this is speculative, research in the field would be fascinating.
> 
> 3- Without disclosure, obtaining milk bank milk is a commercial
> transaction. The usefulness of milk bank vs. direct donation is how simple
> and non-emotional it can be, especially for parents of newborn premature
> babies who may have limited emotional energy to spend on thanking donors
> and processing the meaning of donated milk. They may also not be equipped
> to set adequate boundaries in these new relationships.

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