Carol,

Thank you so much for your very informative, and thoughtful, post!

One thing I'd like to discuss is that frustration about the amount of
supply of donor milk. Several people have posited that if
breastfeeding and HM became more important, and the norm, there would
be a greater supply, and so milk would be available to babies for
whom it is not necessarily medically indicated (by virtue of a
medical problem, that is).

The thing which is frustrating is that there is _not_ a shortage of
supply.  Right now there is only *one* milk bank even -accepting-
milk at all.  None of the other banks are accepting milk, because
they are full to capacity - supply has exceeded "demand"
(artificially suppressed demand, to be sure, because of the need for
a prescription for a medical necessity, and because banked milk is
financially beyond the reach of so many).  The banks are all turning
donors away, and there are many generous mothers out there just
aching to donate their 100s of ounces of frozen "liquid gold", who
are unable to find a home for this milk.

This was, actually, one of the primary reasons why I was trying to
come up with a way to connect those with supply to those with a
demand (through banks, or in some safe fashion, of course).

And it was the banks' unwillingness to address this situation which
lead to much of my own frustration.  They require a prescription for
their product, people without a medical necessity can't get a
prescription (heck, many of those *with* a medical necessity can't
get one), people can't afford the banked milk (would it be less
expensive if the actual supply in our country flowed into the banks,
providing more product?)...this all leaves those with milk to
contribute,and those who need to provide supplemental EBM to their
babies but who can't afford it at >$2.00 per ounce, out in the cold.
And their babies receiving formula instead of the milk which is out
there, which they could be receiving. :-(

What can we do about this situation to address it?


Anne

Anne

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