In a message dated 98-05-21 18:33:28 EDT, Ellen Schell wrote

<< I am a lactation consultant and director of the Lactation Institute in
 Encino, CA USA.  I have a client and dear friend who had a extreme
 complications in childbirth last night.  She may not be able to
 breastfeed her baby at least right away.  The family is exploring use of
 alternates to feeding.  The family is halev israel.  The father thinks
 that they could only use donor milk from a Jewish woman who keeps Kosher.
  Is this true?
  >>

I'm looking at the book _Yevoraich Es Han'orim_ by Rabbi Shlomo Cohen,
published by Feldheim publishers, a collection of Jewish law on pregnancy,
childbirth, and infancy.

On p. 193 (E) in a section on alternative feeding, where the child for
whatever reason cannot drink the mother's milk, he quotes from the Rama 81:7
(a medieval commentator, authoritative for Ashkenazic Jews):

  "The milk of a non-Jewish woman is considered the same as that of a Jewish
woman.  Nonetheless, one should not use a non-Jewish wet nurse since her milk
results from eating non-kosher foods and will dull the heart of the child."

He goes on as follows:  ". . . Apropos the use of formula, those who are
strict in using only Cholov Yisroel have the option to use a soybean
derivative formula.  Occasionally this may be detrimental to a child's health.
Some Poskim [religious authorities] permit a child to drink Cholov Tamay (non-
kosher milk) until the age of two or three if needed.  The decision to use a
soybean formula must threfore be made in conjunction with both a pediatrician
and a Rav."


From these halakhic points I derive two halakhic principles:

1.  There are spiritual (hashkafic) reasons to prefer the milk of a mother who
eats kosher food.  However, any human milk is **permitted** to be used.

2.  The health of the child is the primary consideration and there are clearly
authoritative positions to be lenient even in the child's halakhic observance
(the Cholov Tamay formula), and therefore certainly (_kal va'homer_) in the
merely  hashkafic custom of preferring human milk "derived" from kosher food.

It is clear that the bottom line is that the parents should consult their
health professionals and their _posek_ together to determine **what is best
for the child's health** --- since the child's health is itself a halakhic
value ("_ve'hai ba'hem_").


Hope this helps.  Feel free to print and pass to them or to their rabbi, in
case he wants the citation to the Rama.

Elisheva S. Urbas
NYC
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