For a woman who wants to provide her victual breastmilk but cannot breastfeed for any number of reasons, there are resources available, like donor breastmilk. Donor breastmilk has wilt increasingly popular in recent years. Many women generously pump their breastmilk for mothers in need; it is an incredible gift.
However, while donor breastmilk is lovely, mothers must be shielding who they get their milk from. The FDA strongly recommends versus mothers purchasing breastmilk from unknown and unscreened individuals or online considering the milk is unlikely to have been screened for disease or other contamination. It moreover may not have been placid or thus stored to stave safety risks to your baby.1
When it comes to their babies, mothers want nothing but the best. But there are ways to find unscratched and healthy donor breastmilk.
Start with Your Doctor or Midwife
As with any medical decision, it is unchangingly weightier to talk to your doctor or midwife first. In this case, you want to be sure that the child’s pediatrician is on workbench with you using donor breastmilk. Many physicians will stipulate that donor milk is a good solution for a mother unable to breastfeed. This is particularly true for high-risk infants under 1,500 grams or 3 pounds.2
Reputable milk banks have strict restrictions on who can receive donor breastmilk; depending on your state, you may need a prescription.
What is Donor Breastmilk?
According to The Human Milk Financial Association of North America, pasteurized donor human milk is breastmilk donated to a milk bank. Experts at a milk wall then screen and test the milk so it can send it to hospitals and families in need. All donor mothers require screening and approval, and milk banks log and monitor all donor milk.3
The pasteurization process eliminates harmful yes-man or other potentially infecting organisms. While the Human Milk Financial Association (HMBANA) says a few nutritional elements are lost in the pasteurization process, donor milk has been unswayable to be the second-best nomination without mothers’ milk.3
Where Do You Get Donor Breastmilk?
The HMBANA is a unconfined place to start for those looking for donor breastmilk but unchangingly go to a reputable source. There are many reasons to go to the HMBANA. First, they are true advocates for mothers and their babies. It is their mission statement:
“HMBANA advances the field of nonprofit milk financial through member accreditation, minutiae of evidence-based weightier practices, and sponsorship of breastfeeding and human lactation to ensure an ethically sourced and equitably distributed supply of human donor milk.”
And the HMBANA has strict standards for its milk banks. A donor to an HMBANA wall must undergo a rigorous screening process to provide breastmilk. Staff at one of their banks squint for tobacco and drug use, diseases such as HIV, and hepatitis B or C. The screen for tried medications and the wall will moreover consider swig consumption, travel, a recent history of thoroughbred transfusion, or vegans who do not supplement with B12. While this is a partial list, it gives you an idea of the qualifications they require for donation.
Additionally, there are milk handling restrictions. Milk cannot be heat-treated unless a doctor does it. Milk that has been refrigerated but not frozen within 96 hours without the expression is ineligible, and milk that is past one year from its hodgepodge will expire.
A donor will receive strict and specific standards for hodgepodge and hygiene. The donors stipulate not to share their milk anywhere other than their donation site and will not sell it.
Where Can I Find a Milk Bank?
There are currently 25 certified milk banks in the United States and three in Canada, with three milk banks in development. For those interested in starting a milk bank, the HMBANA has information on its site to help, but the FDA reports that some states have their own rules and standards in wing to those of the HMBANA.
Why is It Important for a Woman to Donate Her Breastmilk?
Some women can’t breastfeed for any number of reasons, such as illness or medications she’s taking. She might moreover be unable to considering her victual may have trouble latching. Whatever the reason, breastmilk donors help mothers provide proper nutrition to their infants.
Providing donor breastmilk now moreover fills the coffers for the future. Many of the babies who will need donor breastmilk haven’t plane been born yet, so it helps to squint ahead.
Donor breastmilk helps with many parts of a baby’s development. It helps with smart-ass development, lowers the risk of respiratory infections, makes digestion easier, can help provide crucial antibodies, and helps to reduce the risk of asthma, sudden infant death syndrome, and type 2 diabetes.4
Do your research, whether you are a mother needing milk or a woman who can lactate and provide donor breastmilk. Many of the sources whilom can provide valuable spare information. Donor breastmilk is a gift, and the HMBNA is working nonflexible to make it misogynist daily for increasingly babies.
Resources
1. https://www.fda.gov/
2. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/139/1/e20163440/52000/
3. https://www.hmbana.org/
4. https://mothersmilk.org/
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