I certainly did not intend to offend anyone with my sister in law's story
about trying to get donated breast milk.  One reader suggested that if I
attended a workshop on milk banks I would come away with a new respect for
them, implying that I must not already have respect for milk banks, which is
not true.  Others stated that considering how life-giving breastmilk is, it's
worth the cost.  Personally and theoretically, I couldn't agree more.
However, regardless of WHAT the money is used for, when you have to order a
large amount and you do not have insurance to cover it, it simply IS
prohibitive for the average person.  Perhaps in time more physicians will
write scripts for it, and more insurance companies will pay for it, as they
do for donated blood.  In the case of my husband's brother and sister in law,
they are self-employed, struggling to start their own business, and did not
have insurance that would pay for such things.

All of which says to me that we should really value the fact that so many of
us can feed our children all the breastmilk they need, at no cost.  What a
gift that is, and what a blessing it is to both the donor and the recipient
when breastmilk can be directly given, mother to mother at no charge.  Thank
goodness we have the milk banks; I wish we had more of them all over the
country.  I would love to be involved with one myself.  I simply wish that
anyone who needed the milk would be able to get it, even if the fees involved
are reasonable.

I think I will go back to lurking now....

Betsy Koval
Lansing

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