Dear Lactnetters: I just joined the list so that I can provide accurate answers to some of your questions. Please feel free to e-mail me privately as well. Rachel had a question about donors and pooling. We do pool donor milk from several donors but the donor ID# of each one is tracked through the lot numbers. So, although the patient's name, donor # and health info is only known to the milk bank, we can track the donor #'s to the finished lot of processed donor milk. Kathy's concerns below are valid ones and I'm happy to address them. From Kathy: "Here's my fear--a consistent formulation of 20-24 calories--just like formula--may seem more attractive to many physicians and parents than trusting to nature and the superiority of mother's own milk for her own baby. This just doesn't feel right to me--the idea that the milk for sick and premature babies needs to be "consistently formulated" by a for profit company. And as many have poined out mothers donating are not reimbursed. And how IS it formulated?" Kathy Boggs, RN, IBCLC Neonatologists want to use breastmilk. It's indisputable that babies, especially sick ones, need it. We always tell the neonatologists and parents that the mom's own milk is the best possible food for the baby. But, the sad fact is that when there is no pumped milk available, most sick babies are still getting artificial baby milk. Because of this, many NICU's keep babies NPO for a very long time, causing more problems. Neonatologists have stated that, if there is no mother's milk available, they would like very small (1-2ml) doses of donor milk for "trophic feeds" so that the babies' gut can be stimulated. The 20-24 calorie donor milk is only for babies who 1) don't have mother's milk available to them or (2 mom is pumping but has either run short on milk supply or the milk has not yet "cleared" of meds, etc. When a mom's own milk is available, it sometimes lacks the needed protein and caloric levels to facilitate growth of a baby that weighs less than 1,500 grams. In that case, they usually use human milk fortifier, which has always been made from bovine protein. Now, they can use a human milk fortifier made out of real human milk. You are right, mothers who donate milk to milk banks in the US are not compensated. For the most part, they are donating excess milk- stockpiles that they have pumped and kept in the freezer. Often, they have so much milk, they simply want to put their supply to a good use and not have to discard it. Many have had preemies in the past and so they know how difficult it is to maintain a milk supply when your baby is critically ill. So, they donate (knowing that their milk will be tested, blended, formulated, pasteurized and sold to hospital NICUs.) And they know that the company doing this (Prolacta) is a for-profit company. Their main concern is that babies who need breast milk will get it. Your last question is on formulation. The milk is pooled and blended. Then, it is tested to see the total protein, fat and carb. content. To increase protein, concentrated human milk proteins are added as well as human milk fat until the desired levels are reached. The total calories cannot just come from fat, since these very low birthweight babies need protein to grow. After the right levels are reached, the milk is pasteurized, filled into oral syringes, frozen and kept in quarantine until all final testing is done. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions. I hope this answers the ones posted recently. Elena Medo, CEO Prolacta Bioscience *********************************************** 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