Banking on Milk, Options Are Growing for Women Who Can’t Breast-Feed

As more people learn of the benefits for infants of being fed breast milk, mothers who are unable to nurse their babies are looking to alternatives other than formula. The growing demand for breast milk has spawned a not-for profit network donors, as well as growing number of fee-paid or for-profit alternatives.

Learn About Milk Banks

The Human Milk Banking Association of North America (www.hmbana.org) has eleven member donor milk banks in the United States and Canada. The milk banks screen donors, collect, test, pasteurize and freeze the breast milk and ship it to hospitals across North America. Breast milk from the donor banks is used primarily for premature babies or those with severe medical conditions. Even for-profit milk banks like Prolacta (www.prolacta.com) provide milk primarily babies with special medical needs.

Other Options

Breastfeeding-challenged mothers have devised inventive ways to get the best for their babies. Wet nurses, a term rarely heard since the nineteenth century, are coming back. Unlike their Victorian counterparts, today's wet nurse can command up to $1,000 a week for her services. Mothers with a more modest budget are looking to other inventive means to obtain breast milk. Some are buying milk from pre-screened lactating women. This option is median between inaccessible milk banks and the unaffordable wet nurses.

Some Moms can breastfeed, but just need help working it in around their schedule. For those, cross-nursing with a friend, family member or even a pre-screened stranger may be an option. In cross-nursing, two moms share feeding responsibilities between their babies. La Leche league warns against this practice, as viruses can be passed through breast milk. However cross-nursing has been a cultural norm for generations in many countries.

photo by Wencke G