Taylor Breisch of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, says she tried everything but could not produce enough milk to feed her first son. When he began losing weight, her pediatrician advised supplementing the breast milk with formula. But nothing seemed to help with his growth.
A solution presented itself when Breish’s sister-in-law and her midwife’s sister-in-law — who both had recently given birth — offered their excess breast milk. Until then, Breish, 31, had never heard of sharing breast milk, but the idea seemed exciting. “I really wanted my baby to have all breast milk. Since I was having trouble providing that, I felt really blessed that other women were willing and able to help me,” she says. “I never thought of it as weird or gross.”
Aside from informal sharing among friends and family, online donations and sales of breast milk have become increasingly popular, according to research published in the October 2014 issue of Breastfeeding Medicine, culled from a study called Moms2Moms. The researchers estimate that 13,000 posts or advertisements are made each year on websites such as Eats on Feets, Human Milk 4 Human Babies and Only the Breast. Hundreds of other milk sharing groups on Facebook and Twitter promote free donations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers exclusively breast-feed infants for about the first six months of life, and continue breast-feeding for at least a year, as solid foods are introduced. Breast milk is unique in that it provides infants with the nutrients they need to grow and thrive — and moms are taking notice of the highly publicized research touting the benefits versus risks. In its most recent recommendations made in 2008, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force reported that not breast-feeding is associated with health risks such as increased ear infections, lower respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal infections in infants. Children who were not breast-fed were also more likely to develop asthma, Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
However, the AAP does not condone informal sharing of breast milk because of concerns over infection, says Dr. Joan Younger Meek, chair of the AAP section for breast-feeding and chair-elect for the United States Breastfeeding Committee, an independent nonprofit supporting breast-feeding policies and practices nationwide.
“In my mind, it’s a risky business,” Meek says. “Even the informal sharing between mom’s sister and the mother’s best friend — there are still risks to that because you don’t know the full health history or if the milk was stored in clean containers.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also advises against informal breast-milk sharing. It only recommends breast-feeding the old-fashioned way, or receiving breast milk through the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, which interviews and vets donors based on their health and lifestyle, and screens milk for bacteria before processing, pasteurizing and bottling it. Many hospitals and health systems utilize the association’s milk banks to feed premature infants, but its breast milk isn’t readily available to the public, says Dr. Sarah Keim, principal investigator at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. If an average mom were to seek milk from the association’s donor breast milk banks, it would cost a little over $4 per ounce, Keim says, “Which is expensive for how much a baby drinks.”
In the Moms2Moms Study, of more than 800 women who delivered a child at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, Keim and colleagues found that 77 percent of respondents had difficulty producing enough breast milk, and 25 percent said they have considered sharing.
“These could be clues as to why women are interested in sharing milk,” Keim says.
In April, Keim and her research team published another study examining the contents of breast milk being sold on the Internet. Despite being advertised as human breast milk, 11 of 102 purchased Internet samples had both human and cow DNA. Ten of the samples contained high enough concentrations of cow’s milk to rule out accidental contamination. The researchers say this suggests donors added a significant amount of cow’s milk to the human breast milk being sold. This finding is problematic for infants with an allergy or intolerance.
“Someone could add infant formula or cow’s milk to the breast milk,” Keim says. “But there could be other contaminants in it, such as water or soy formula. Even a small amount can be a problem for a baby with an allergy.”
Even if you do your best to get to know an informal donor, there are still risks in accepting breast milk donations. For example, the milk could expose a child to infectious diseases such as HIV and cytomegalovirus — a common virus and member of the herpes family that many people aren’t aware they have because it rarely causes symptoms, Keim says, but stays in the body for life.
Other concerns include substances the donor may be ingesting. “Someone you think you know well may not be interested in disclosing information about whether or not they’re taking medications or using illicit drugs,” Keim adds.
Given the popularity of breast milk sharing and the research investigating its safety, lawmakers have sought legislation to regulate human milk banks. In New Jersey, a state Senate committee approved a bill that would regulate the distribution of breast milk and enforce its safety. In addition, the state’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would create a public awareness campaign on the benefits of breast-feeding. Michigan legislators introduced a similar bill to the Senate in February. If enacted, it would require breast milk banks, companies and cooperatives to uphold screening standards and provide education and support for breast-feeding mothers.
Breisch accepted breast milk donations from other friends, but she never purchased it online. Instead, her lactation consultant told her about Eats on Feets, a worldwide networking site for people who want to share breast milk without a fee. The group’s Facebook page connects women who wish to donate or receive donated milk. The site offers four “pillars” — or tips — for safe sharing: informed choice, donor screening, safe handling and home pasteurization.
“It was awesome. I produced a little, but [my son] was almost exclusively fed with donor milk his first year,” Breisch says. “It was a blessing. He started growing, gaining weight and became a chubby little baby.”
Meek says while it’s a good thing that women like Breisch value breast-feeding and are willing to do whatever they can to provide breast milk to their babies, more lactation support is needed to prevent informal breast milk sharing. “We, as a society, should be more supportive for women to breast-feed their own children and helping them with back-to-work issues; making sure our hospitals are supportive of breast-feeding women,” Meek says.
Breisch admits she was concerned about accepting donations in the beginning, but after meeting with her donors in person — some would even bring recent blood work papers — she felt she could trust them. She says she is more skeptical of those who sell milk online for profit.
“I felt really trusting that if they were giving this milk to their babies, they wouldn’t be doing something to purposefully harm my baby,” she says.
For women having difficulty producing enough breast milk, Keim says it’s important to remember that formula is OK if you are unable to breast-feed or choose not to. She reminds mothers that formula sold over-the-counter goes through a strong regulatory system to ensure its safety.
“I think many are uninterested in thinking about formula for their child,” Keim says. “But sometimes that’s the right thing for your baby, and you need to talk to your pediatrician about it.”
For more information on breast-feeding, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, find La Leche League groups near you or explore online resources from the International Lactation Consultant Association.
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The Dangers of Sharing Breast Milk originally appeared on usnews.com
