A few months ago there was a phone number given in one of those free mothering magazines for milk donors and when my co-Leader called she got a recorded message saying they had enough and thanks, but no thanks??? Stacey, LLLL On Wed, 23 Dec 1998 11:37:22 EST Cynthia Dillon Payne <[log in to unmask]> writes: >Just received this press release. Congrats to Lois Arnold and all the >people >who work at the milk banks! >Cynthia D. Payne >LLL of Berkshire County Mass > ><<Demand for Donated Breast Milk Up > >.c The Associated Press > > By MARTHA MENDOZA > >SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- On her second day in the world, tiny Emily >D'Anne >Shaw blinked slowly at her mother, opened her delicate lips and let a >rubber >nipple slide into her mouth. > >``That's it, my sweet baby,'' murmured her mother, Sherrell Shaw. > >Emily swallowed one sip, and then slowly one more of the gift that >came from a >stranger, one of the donors who this year gave 2,100 gallons of their >own milk >for babies, children and even some adults in need of the precious >fluid. > >Mrs. Shaw hadn't been able to produce any milk for her baby, born a >few weeks >early. At 5 pounds and 4 ounces, Emily was too fragile to leave the >pediatric >intensive care unit but desperately needed the essential nutrients, >immunities >and fat found only in breast milk. > >So Emily's doctors turned to the ``breast milk angels,'' the unpaid >donors who >give milk to six depositories across the country, including the >Mothers' Milk >Bank in San Jose. Users pay about $2.50 an ounce for the milk, which >requires >a doctor's prescription. > >``Every drop that comes out is hard to get, but there is a sense of >preciousness about this,'' said Vera Michalchik, who juggles milk >donations >with raising her two children and working on her doctoral dissertation >in >education at Stanford University. > >``Some days it's tough, I might not have a good flow, but then I >think, oh, >another ounce for another baby who can survive another half a day,'' >she said. >``I know there's never enough.'' > >Consumption of the banked milk has skyrocketed by 33 percent, from >1,400 >gallons last year. > >Among the reasons: The American Academy of Pediatrics urged mothers a >year ago >to exclusively feed their babies breast milk for their first six >months. Now >adoptive parents, drug users or others who cannot nurse are turning to >the >banks for a supply. > >Public confidence about donor screening is on the rise, too, as >studies show >that bodily fluids can be safely tested, processed and distributed. > >Finally, new medical advantages are being discovered for human breast >milk. It >helps heal babies with infectious diseases, intractable diarrhea and >pneumonia. Children with severe allergies sometimes can digest nothing >else. >Adults recovering from solid organ transplants and suffering from AIDS >find it >helps them put on weight. In Mexico, it is poured on burns. > >Milk banks can't keep up with the demand. > >``We're overwhelmed,'' said Lois Arnold at the Human Milk Banking >Association >of North America in Sandwich, Mass. ``There's never enough breast >milk, and >there's never enough space, time or people to process and distribute >it.'' > >Refrigerators are packed with bags and bottles at the San Jose bank, >where >nurse Pauline Sakamoto was preparing a 300-pound shipment last week. >As she >worked, a Federal Express package arrived with more frozen milk. > >``Sometimes I wonder if I can keep up, but then I just imagine the >babies who >need it,'' she said, pouring the cold, creamy fluids into pasteurizing >beakers. > >This batch will be flown by volunteer pilots to Highland and fed to >two foster >children: 8-month-old Dori -- who lost 90 percent of her small bowel >after >birth and is barely surviving as she waits for a liver and intestinal >transplant -- and 3-year-old Nicky, who failed to thrive before his >diet was >switched to breast milk 18 months ago. > >These days he is fed almost 2 quarts a day. His chubby cheeks and >bright brown >eyes bring smiles from strangers. > >There are no federal guidelines for breast milk banks. The six U.S. >banks, >along with one in Canada and one in Mexico, regulate themselves >through the >Human Milk Banking Association. > >Donors are screened and approved by their own doctors, their baby's >pediatricians and the milk bank. They donate their milk at home, >freeze it in >sterile containers and ship it in batches to the milk banks. There it >is >pasteurized and distributed. > >Human milk banks have been around, officially, since the turn of the >century. >The first known bank in the United States opened in Boston in 1910. >They >dropped out of sight in the 1980s as formula companies began producing >milk >substitutes for premature infants and AIDS became a real scare. > >Charles Shaw wasn't sure what to think last week when doctors >suggested his >new daughter be fed banked milk. > >``I was leery about it, honestly,'' he said, keeping his hand on his >wife as >she cuddled Emily D'Anne. ``But they guarantee this is the healthiest >thing >for her.'' > >Mrs. Shaw whispered something only her baby could hear and then turned >to her >husband. > >``She's looking wonderful,'' she said. ``She's wonderful.'' > >AP-NY-12-23-98 0331EST > > Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in >the AP >news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise >distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. > >> > ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]