To Theresa -
I think you are doing the right thing going over the risks of formula.  The
woman with a double mastectomy (from your class) especially has the right
to know.  As human milk from another healthy woman is the 3rd best choice
(after breastfeeding yourself, or pumping your own milk), and formula is
the 4th best choice, this mom deserves to get help on accessing a milk
bank.  Recent e-mails have said both Denver, Colorado, and the Mass. banks
have plenty of milk even for healthy babies.
        Based on research, if she has a girl, her baby girl will have a lower risk
of breast cancer if she can get human milk.  This mom really needs to know
what her options are -- easier to get human banked milk now than to feel
bad later when even more research is out.  She can maybe help to prevent
her daughter needing the same breast cancer surgery that she had to have.
Even if her daughter did need surgery, she would know she gave the best she
could -- human banked milk. (and of course, if she is having a boy -- the
human milk is still available to the mom and important).
        Good-luck, and I'm impressed by your caring heart.
Jill Lund, RD, MS, St. Louis, Missouri, USA