Karleen Gribble wrote to Tina Revai: "In the sample in my study the women donating milk either 1) Did not have a milk bank locally to donate to 2) Did not qualify as a milk bank donor 3) Required knowledge of their recipient in order to be motivated to donate (this I find really interesting) or 4) had philosophical objections to milk banking (such as recipients being charged for their milk or to pasteurisation of milk). Very few did not fit into one of these boxes. 



In my personal experience of obtaining donor milk for my adopted daughter I worked with about 40 donors. My experience matches Karleen's research remarkably well. Because of the extensive screening required by human milk banks, p art of my screening process was to ask potential donors whether they had donated milk to a milk bank . Some of them had already donated to a milk bank but were looking for a more personal donor process (i.e., knowing who would be receiving their milk). Some of them had been rejected by a milk bank because they had consumed herbal tea during the time that their milk was expressed or because they were pumping the milk of an "older" nursling or because their milk had been frozen for just a little past when was acceptable for a milk bank or for some other reason that did not make their milk unsafe for my baby who was not critically ill or premature at the time of the donation . If these donors  hadn't found a baby in need of their milk through a private donation , their milk would simply have gone down the drain. What a great loss that would have been. Some donors were adama nt about not wanting their milk pasteurized. Some were greatly concerned by the high cost of obtaining donor milk from a milk bank. They r ealized that there were babies out there who needed milk--some simply because they were human babies and some especially in need because of developmental and/or health issues-- but who would not be approved to receive milk from a milk bank given the high demand and the consequent need for triage and donation only to the most critically ill babies ,  and whose parents could never afford  the expense of donor milk especially when it is needed for an extended time (as was the case for my adopted daughter). Thus, these  mothers deeply  wanted their milk to go completely free to a little one in need. And so on. I simply did not see any conflict between donation to a donor milk bank and privately arranged mother-to-mother milk sharing. Not once in 40 mothers. 



Cynthia 


-- 
Cynthia Good Mojab, MS, IBCLC, RLC, CATSM 
www.lifecirclecc.com 
www.lactspeak.com/speaker/cynthiagood-mojab 
www.facebook.com/CGoodMojab 
http://lifespantkd.blogspot.com 



             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome