Well, to put my $.02 in on the discussion:
I'm currently using the simile of "artificial blood" and "artificial baby milk"
with the moms and they seem to grasp things better.
I just describe the importance there is to donate blood because there still is
no man- (or woman-) made equivalent. There are parts of blood that are alive,
others perhaps we don't know about even though there have been many more studies
on blood than on breastmilk. I suggest to them that we are far away from
replacing either "live tissue" with artificial equivalents.
It may sound gory, but seems to get the idea accross.
Jeanette Panchula, BSW, LLLL, IBCLC, RN
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