For years we have been trying to get our hospital to have donor breast milk
for premature babies and babies who might need a supplement. Finally our
neonatologist agreed, and we have been ordering the donor milk from the milk
bank. All has gone well.

We have a new neonatologist who has said that the AAP now discourages donor
milk. When I asked for his reference, he gave this to me.
Guidelines for Perinatal Care, 5th Edition, 2002, AAP and ACOG
(No Authors Listed)
Page 230.  "The use of donor breast milk generally is discouraged. Concern
over transmission of infectious diseases has led to heat treatment of banked
human milk, reducing its beneficial aspects. In addition, the composition of
donor human milk depends on the donor's diet, environmental exposure, and
lifestyle and may pose unknown risks for the newborn.  There is general
agreement that the use of pooled donor human milk is the least satisfactory
regimen for feeding newborn infants and is discouraged. Consequently, human
milk banks have declined in number in the United States and have avoided the
use of pooled milk.  Careful monitoring of donors and laboratory evaluation
of donated milk is required by the Human Milk Banking Association of North
America.
Women who donate breast milk for other newborns should be interviewed
carefully regarding past and current infectious diseases, use of drugs and
medicines and other factors that may impair the quality and safety of the
breast milk that they provide. Before they are accepted as milk donors, they
should be tested for HIV, HBsAg, hepatitis C, tuberculosis. Because
seroconversion may occur, ideally the breast milk should be stored and the
donor retested at 4-6 months for HIV infection before the milk is consumed."

There are No references at the end of the chapter, and no specific author
listed for this section. I would like some information to share with this
physician about donor breastmilk, and would appreciate some research
resources.

Thanks.
Ann Calandro, RNC, IBCLC, RLC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html