Yesterday I was interviewed for the regional TV news broadcast about the
decision to close the milk bank at my hospital.  Because of changes in the
way hospitals are run, the neonatal ICU who actually ran the milk bank would
now have to pay the microbiology department for every bacterial test they
do, and since they test every container of milk donated, the cost would be
about $17,000. US for the year, and there is no room in the budget for that.
The plan is to purchase donor milk from the larger bank in Oslo, which is 5
hours away by car or train.  There is disagreement about whether the Oslo
bank will be able to ensure us a steady supply.  The NICU is very very
intent on being able to give all the premies human milk, and the larger
babies who are admitted for other reasons will be provided with donor milk
for the first 3 days but they can't guarantee they will have it available
for longer periods for the bigger babies.  By then the mothers should be
bringing in their own supplies so it could work out fine.
We need to do bacterial tests because we don't pasteurize donor milk here; I
think all Norwegian milk banks provide fresh frozen milk, in fact.  Donors
are tested, and milk is not pooled, so the baby's hospital record makes it
possible to find out exactly whose milk the baby got should that ever be an
issue.
The news story was short and over-sensationalized, and they edited out the
part where I explained WHY human milk is important for human babies, but it
could have been much worse too.

But the nice part of the story is that when I got to the gym to work out
this morning, there were two other women there, both of them a good deal
older than I am.  We are all regulars there, but today they both said 'Here
comes the TV celebrity!  Now we know what you do for a living!' and that was
pleasant enough.  Then one of them told of how she had had so much milk with
her second baby that the staff on the maternity ward, then a proper lying-in
ward where they stayed for about a week after the birth, asked if they could
'tap' some of her milk for a baby who'd been born much too early, and his
mother didn't have enough.  She was happy to be relieved of her surplus, and
supplied the other baby for the duration of her stay.  When she was leaving,
the premature baby's mother asked for her address, gave her a pump, and she
supplied him for several more weeks.  This involved more than an hour's
drive each for the recipient family, to get the milk.  
The two mothers met years later at some kind of church gathering, and the
premature boy's mother came up and asked if she was her baby's milk donor.
'Do you know, she told me I saved her baby's life!' this woman tells me, in
a wondering tone of voice.  It was really no trouble for her, and it
wouldn't have occurred to her to say no.
So - three random people at a gym, and one of them had personally
experienced wet nursing.  I think this was commonplace at the time in
Norway, probably about 40 years ago.  

Cheers
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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