The FDA is taking on breast-milk sharing at a public meeting today, after warning last week against women sharing breast milk through online networks.
TODAYMoms previously reported on Eats on Feets, the Facebook network that connects women who need breast milk with women who are willing to donate it.
Last week, the FDA warned: “FDA recommends against feeding your baby breast milk acquired directly from individuals or through the Internet. When human milk is obtained directly from individuals or through the Internet, the donor is unlikely to have been adequately screened for infectious disease or contamination risk.“
Seems like the safety, or lack thereof, is up to the individual. Eats on Feets recommends screening donors with questionnaires and/or a blood test, as well as flash-pasteurizing the milk. Yeah, if you get your breast milk the same way you’d pick up a used couch on Craigslist, that’s a problem. But (hopefully?) mothers getting donated breast milk are a bit choosier.
But what are we really talking about here? Every time this issue comes up, the subtext is the “ick” factor of sharing breast milk. Even for women who are absolutely pro-breastfeeding, there’s hesitation around the notion of feeding your baby someone else’s breast milk. Maybe it seems too intimate. Why? As someone pointed out on our Facebook page, you wouldn’t hesitate to get an organ transplant if you needed one (or if your baby did). Donating blood seems totally normal. So why the squeamishness about breast milk? Seriously -- what do you think?
The FDA will publish its conclusions about shared breast milk later this week. Publish your own now, in the comments below.