Alicia has run into a potential recipient of donor milk who has reservations. I don't know about the specifics of Nigerian cultural taboos, but I can share that I had a Pakistani couple who were Muslim. They were delightful and very forthcoming and willing to answer my curiosity about their cultural perceptions about breastfeeding. They shared with me that wet nursing was done very carefully because if a woman nursed someone elses baby, that baby did become a relative of sorts, and the main issue was that care needed to be taken later in life to make sure that no marriages would be arranged that would then break the incest taboos. So that was very interesting. I have a current client, anglo-American woman with a twin who has fused cranial plates and is facing surgery. Mom has a low supply, various challenges, and I am providing some extra support (her main LC care is coming from WIC). Anyway, I spoke to her about donor milk for the twin facing surgery. She rejected the idea completely because there is no way, she believes, to rely upon the donors being drug free. She trusts the screening for diseases, but not maternal injestion of other substances she fears. I was really surprised to discover this was an issue, but it sure is with her. BTW, the Mothers Milk Bank at Austin considers Crohns Disease in adults to be a category where human milk is used as a medicinal. It would be wonderful if MDs using human milk as tx for this condition would publish more case reports on outcomes. Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSEd, IBCLC Austin Lactation Associates, Austin, Texas http://www.jump.net/~bwc/lactnews.html *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html