Mumsnet Talk

Following on from a previous thread really. If you were struggling to BF in hospital and you were offered donated BM or formula - which one would you prefer? I personally, would opt for donated milk if I couldn't feed or express for myself - what do you think?

Donated milk any time. Much better for the baby.

i w0ould absolutely want donated milk, no question about it.
if i wasn't offered it and really, really needed it then i would find out about it myself.

formula would be an absolute last resort

Personally for me it would depend on circumstances as to why i was not able to BF, if not being able to feed was going to a permanent thing then i would opt for the formula.

If it was only a tempory issue then it would be the baby being offered a bottle that i would have the problem with, rather that what type of milk it was tbh.

Depends on if the baby was ill. If ill, bm, if not formula.

to be honest, right after birth I was so knackered that all I could think of was SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP & definitely could not debate the merits of donated milk vs formula . On the one occasion we were offered some extra milk (baby couldn't latch on at first) there was no choice given, & we didn't ask, so were given formula in a cup. We were fine with that. I suppose, now that I think of it, that donated milk might have been better... but ^come on^, how much of a difference could one little cup of formula milk have made?!

Now that I think of it though... if my baby were to be in need of lots of extra milk for some medical reason which meant I could temporarily not provide the milk myself, then yes, donated milk would have been my choice if given a choice.

donated milk, without a doubt.

If my baby was healthy I would FF. If my baby was premature etc I would definately use donated breastmilk.

Donated milk - no contest - HAS to be superior to formula.

Donated milk, given the choice, absolutely.

donated in the hope that I could get it right at somepoint.

How common is donated milk? Would most maternity units have access to it or would they look at you like this for even suggesting it?

But donated milk is just for preemies/ill babies, no? If you can't BF you are going to have to think longer term...you can't give donated BM forever can you? Although I was devastated when I had to give DS FM at age 5days, I hoped it was temporary (wasn't) and would have felt better if it had been BM. However when I had to give FM top ups daily after that I got used to the idea.

I mean, if there were lakes of donated BM for any baby that wanted it, then BM. But it's a bit of a silly question (sorry) as there isn't, and what there is needs to be kept for the babies that need it.

is it? That would make sense, assuming it's scarce then they would have to prioritise.

I think a lot of hospitals do have it available for preterm infants - or it can be requested from a milk bank. I was just curious about how many people would choose it if given the option. Juat thinking that it might be a way to help move away from formula in hospitals if it was considered acceptable enough AND whether more women would continue to try to breastfeed after giving DM rather than formula....
For those who have said only if sick/preterm can I ask why you wouldn't want it otherwise?

Both NICU's that I've worked on didnt have access to donated breast milk.

Just to clarify - I don't think it IS available for all babies at the moment but what if it WAS...it could be something that we move towards if we increase people's awareness of it as an option and encourage more people to donate.

Just wondering about its acceptability as an option...

Message withdrawn

Bubbleymummy- I said only if my baby were preterm etc....personally I wouldnt want my baby to have someone elses breastmilk unless not having it could be detrimental to their health ie. increased risk of NEC in preterms.
Why? I just wouldnt. For me formula would be an appropriate alternative to me not breast feeding.

Currently donated breast milk is only an option for prem / sick babies and is only available in a limited number of hospitals that have a milk bank which is currently 17 hospitals in the UK. We chose to give our premature baby breast milk and were very lucky that the hospital I gave birth in had a milk bank.

If any ladies are interested in donating milk there is lots of useful information here http://www.ukamb.org/donor.htm

It's a real shame that there is not more donated breast milk available for sick / prem babies around the country and also for mothers who are struggling with breast feeding temporarily. In the USA you can buy donated breast milk.

Now it would be donated milk every time. Having been a donor myself, I wouldn't be shy to ask either!

Theres soon to be a National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Guideline on the subject. Hurrah .

Just interested - did anyone here who BF actually donate milk themselves?

It is not available at all AFAIK in maternity wards. I was told when I was having help to hand express on the 2nd day after DS was born (at 31+3 weeks) that in the eventuality that I couldn't express enough milk they would offer donated milk. I was asked if I would be ok with this and (before I even had time to answer yes) told that if they couldn't get any more milk they would probably give him a dextrose solution until I had some. TBH that scared me rather than reassured me at the time because she made me think that it was likely that I wouldn't have any milk.

As it was, I managed to express plenty for him in time for when he needed it (he was on 1ml an hour for the first couple of days - even I could manage that!). Maybe that's why they can provide donated milk to preemies - they don't really drink that much to begin with!

In the end I expressed exclusively for 6 months and carried on expressing until 7 months (with a small amount of formula mixed in as I was slowing down the expressing) and although it was hard at the time I am so glad I did it to give him EBM even though I didn't manage to BF directly. No offence to any ff-ing mums who couldn't bf - I think the fact that I left the hospital after 5 weeks with a full milk supply meant that in order to stop lactating, it would have meant deliberately stopping if that makes sense? Would have loved to donate BM (and would have happily donated all my frozen to the hospital since DS was fussy and would only drink fresh ) but since we were 'living from pump to mouth' (as it were ) I could just about manage to make enough for him, and even then I started to struggle at every growth spurt. I think when people donate milk they tend to attach a pump to the other side when they bf their own baby so that the milk that would normally drip out isn't wasted.

Anyway, I waffle so I'm off now...