<<Blood/donor milk comparison: Some have suggested that it doesn't make
sense for the USNS Comfort milk bank drive to be called off - that it is
about as hard to ship blood as it is to ship human donor milk, and no-one
would be turning away blood donations. Is this true, is it as hard to ship
blood as it is to ship human milk?>>

Blood products are used in hospitals where storage and decontaminated
delivery systems are available to every user.  Milk must be transported to,
stored and delivered at household level.  Please picture a mother living
under a tarpaulin, heating water over an open fire, having walked and queued
for several hours to get it.  She has no electricity, no gas, no fridge, no
table, no cleaning cloth, no detergent.  She cannot keep milk fresh.  She
cannot deliver it safely to her infant.  Her only option, the baby's only
chance of survival is breastfeeding ... whether herself or by wet nurse.  If
an aid agency gives her milk (whether powdered cow milk or fresh human milk)
she will assume that she does not need to breastfeed or find a wet nurse and
her baby will likely die.  In the minority of cases where breastmilk cannot
be procured locally and delivered directly from breast to belly, powdered
infant formula is the most logistically convenient alternative.  It can be
transported cheaply, delivered and prepared in small quantities.  BUT it
should only be used where the choice is between immediate starvation (baby
will die within hours) and staving off starvation for long enough to find a
source of breastmilk and hoping that diarrhoea or pneumonia doesn't kill the
baby first.
Cheers
Nina Berry
Australia

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome