Hi Jacquie,
I'm thinking of sharing of information back from recipients to donors, not necessarily identifying but certainly information about why the recipient needed donor milk and the outcome of the use of the milk. I'm interested because I am currently writing a paper on the interaction with milk banks and opinions of milk banking of women involved in peer-to-peer milk sharing and one thing that has come through very strongly is that some women need the knowledge of the situation of the recipient and outcome of donation in order to be motivated and interested in donating milk- hence one reason why donating to a milk bank was not for them because they get no feedback from a milk bank. Other research on milk bank donors (from S America) has similarly found that donors want to know how their milk is used. And then there is a new paper in BFMed on a model in Malaysia where a hospital facilitates mother to mother milk sharing within the hospital system where donor and recipient meet one another. In that instance it is not about motivation but about meeting requirements of Islamic law. 
Anyway, I suspect that with milk banking that it is a hangover from blood donation which is the basis for so much in the milk banking world....but milk is not like blood in so many ways.
Karleen Gribble
Australia

On 07/11/2011, at 10:55 AM, Jacquie at Milk Matters wrote:

> "I was wondering if anyone here is aware of any research discussing why donation of milk via a human milk bank is usually anonymous?"
> Karleen Gribble
> Australia
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Hi Karleen
> 
> I know of no research.  Anonymous to whom?  The donors, and their medical histories, are very well known to the milk bank!  All milk banks will be able to determine the source for every drop of milk issued, should a baby fall sick after receiving donor milk and if an investigation is needed.  The milk bank should be able to show that the donor (or donors in the case of pooled milk) who contributed to Batch X was screened and tested according to the protocol, and that the batch of milk was tested.
> 
> In case this helps with looking for research, I wonder if anonymity is a hang-over from how organ donation/adoption of babies is or was handled.   I don't imagine there was research for that, just the usual "no-need-to-know" assumptions, but perhaps it was to reduce the potential risk of the donor or family tracking down the recipient and asking for compensation.
> 
> I suspect that anonymity is merely what happens for practical reasons, since milk bank staff would have little time to spare from their work to interact with casual queries.  In our milk bank, Muslim donors have often asked to meet the recipient's parents, which for practical purposes has not worked out even once, I think.  There is little way for milk bank workers to know in advance which unit of milk is going to end up with which baby, or even which hospital, let alone know that the particular units are about to be used and that introductions should be arranged.  As I said, record keeping between hospital and milk bank will allow a unit to be tracked back if legally necessary.
> 
> I'm really curious why you asked the question.... is this a brick wall you've been coming up against?  Is this something you are working to change?
> 
> I think it would be rather nice if the recipient parents knew where their baby's milk came from, and had the chance to say thank you if they had the time and energy.    Through our newsletter and blogs, we thank donors when recipients contact us.
> 
> Best wishes
> Jacquie
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Jacquie Nutt IBCLC
> Milk Matters
> www.milkmatters.org
> 
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