Rachel Thank you very much for replying with info about the Norwegian donor milk policy and practice. Wonderful story about the Somali mother! Thanks for explaining. I see now - mothers are screened for HIV at birth - so that it would not be possible for an HIV+ mother to provide breastmilk without having been screened - rather than testing the milk itself for that particular virus. Makes sense. What a wonderful system you describe. I'm green with envy! Pamela At 08:53 31/01/2006, Rachel Myr wrote: >Pam asks how milk is tested for HIV. It isn't, to my knowledge, nor is it >tested for any other viruses. If I am mistaken on this I will let you know. >Milk is cultured for bacteria. Donors are tested for evidence of various >viral infections, current or past. Women with no evidence of CMV infection >are in demand as donors for the smallest, most premature babies, because >they are only given banked milk from CMV-negative donors. If their own >mothers test CMV-positive, the babies can still have their own mothers' >milk. CMV isn't such a concern for babies of higher gestational age. > >I recently encountered a Somali woman whose baby was born at 33 weeks by >emergency CS for cord prolapse. She vehemently refused to allow her baby to >get donor milk when approached about it in the recovery area after her >surgery under general anesthesia. She requested a clean container and >promptly expressed enough colostrum to feed the baby then and there, and >continued to do so from then on. I removed her staples on day 5 and asked >her then about her attitude to donor milk, because I was curious. She >explained that a woman who provides milk for a baby, becomes its mother, and >her baby already had a mother, namely herself. "One baby, two mothers, not >good!" was her explanation. "If I die, and of course I hope that I don't, >insh'allah, then my baby would need another mother. But I am alive." Then >she added as an afterthought, "Some men want to have two wives. I don't >like that either." > >I have to say it is a lot more fun caring for immigrant women when we can >converse about things, not to mention how much more I can learn from them >under such circumstances. > >Our practice with regard to testing of donor milk reflects several things >about Norway: the low prevalence of many serious viral infections in the >childbearing population, the easy availability of testing for potential >donors, and the high prevalence of lactation, making it possible for us to >be choosy about whose milk is accepted for use by premature or ill babies. >If this were a country with high prevalence of HIV infection, or even >Hepatitis B and C, we would likely have different policies. Current policy >here is to give HIV-positive women cabergoline when the baby is born and the >option of breastfeeding is not considered for one moment. > >Rachel Myr >Kristiansand, Norway *********************************************** 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(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html