to ask if you would use donated breastmilk if it was available rather than formula?

[bubbleymummy]

Inspired by another thread.

I personally would rather use donated milk. If you wouldn't - why not?

Mrssparkle - you may already have gone so you won't get the chance to read this but:

If you use the same controls that allow you to accept that a bf baby is healthier than a ff baby then you would see that this carries on into childhood and adulthood. You are accepting the studies for babies and then introducing new variables and coming to a different conclusion for children.

Also, while there are no guarantees that ff will make your child ill, they are more likely to be ill so that is one reason why people bother to bf - there are many others.

I'd be interested to read the belarus study (don't have time now!) but I'm not sure I would agree that it is comparable to the UK due to the factors that other people have posted.

Jamie, probiotics in formula can't do the same as bm and iirc their value in general is being questioned.

Finally, thank you to all the new posters answering the original post! :)

One more for mrssparkle - you didn't respond to the why do you accept smoking causes cancer question? Studies show that it does but not all people who smoke get cancer but yet it is widely accepted that it does.

Can we stop now then?

bubbley - you sound like you are facilitating a focus group. Are you a researcher

Bubbly speaks a lot of sense!

Must be all that breast milk she produces/produced!

god is this still going u lot are nutters

Lol! No jlc. this has been an interesting discussion though. Thanks to all the contributors! :) In a few years it would be interesting to see if anything has changed - I think I might stick to a straightforward poll though - to avoid the bunfight! :)

My breastfed child always catches every bug going and is the worlds fussiest eater.

My formula fed child will eat anything going and is hardly ever ill.

Hmmmmmm.

Ok having read through ! I have a question for you anti FF ! My son was born at 32 weeks I expressed obviously as he was unable to feed...but this lastest only a few weeks before my body gave up the ghost and nothing was coming out. What should I have done??? Told the SCBU not to feed him the special forumla created for early babies?? I think not, without it he would have died !! I would welcome comments on how I should have gone about this situation x

oh no replies erm theres a surprise 3)

Topknob- expressing while you could was probably hugely beneficial for your son, and it's not easy (I know someone who was in a very similar situation; the SCBU didn't give her anything in the way of support or guidance about expressing either, which made things even harder given the traumatic experience of a premature birth).

Some SCBU do have access to donated breastmilk from milk banks, which has been shown to reduce the risks of necrotizing enterocolitis (obviously the expressed milk you were able to provide is a better option). However, donor milk banks are not universal, and in those circumstances then FF is the only way forward.

I hope your son is well now?

To state the obvious topknob,given what this thread is actually about, had there been a milk bank associated with the hospital you were in you could have had the option of using donated milk instead of formula?

And it's not about being anti-FF, it's about having more options to choose from than ONLY having formula as an alternative. And that's what the OP was asking, whether people would choose donated breastmilk or not...

Inerta has replied well

You did all you could and that is great as you did everything you could!

It was an odd situation..my son in scbu for 6 weeks but me at home pumping out as much as I could for that 6 week period which tbh lastest about 3 weeks :(

I felt crap, I couldn't provide for my baby.. any thing which made up for that was a bonus imo, anything which helped him get strong and get home . xx

I would not choose donated over SC baby forumla, no I would not x

thats not true kerry

did you use a hospital or one of those over the counter pumps topknob?

my friend had a big hospital double type pump and because of that did it for 10 months

but the thing is, you did the very best you could, you cannot feel bad if you gave it everything you could. people give up so easily sometimes but you did not. you should be proud that you did all you could to give your baby x

It was a hospital pump on loan x

And that was your decision to make topknob, this thread was only exploring how people felt about it (although if your hospital is anything like mine, it wouldn't have been a decision as donated milk is not available so if expressing is not working the only alternative is formula).

Kerry- if the milk comes from a hospital-based milk bank, then the milk is thoroughly tested. The donor mothers are also medically screened. And the pasteurisation process doesn't remove most of the nutritional benefit (cow's milk is regarded as nutritionally valuable despite being pasteurised). For very premature babies, tests indicate that their immature digestive system is better able to handle human milk than cow's milk- clearly milk direct from the mother is most appropriate, where that is possible (and I accept that it isn't always possible).

Again inertia is giving a brill reply!

Topknob - you did all you could and sound like a fabulous mummy who put amazing effort in. You should not feel bad at all x

we're not very logical about this issue are we. should be a total no brainer.

? Sophable???!

Only read OP. Yes I would rather donated milk than formula for a newborn or baby in NICU. As long as it was screened obviously. My reasons are that I feel human milk is best for babies especially newborns and sick babies. One of my DSs was in NICU and fed formula for first few days as I was in HDU and too ill to feed him myself. I started breastfeeding him at 3 or 4 days old and the improvement was huge. I only managed for a few weeks with my older 4 but I was very glad i tried and they all got the first foremilk and at least first week or so. I wish I had been supported and encouraged more, the HV actually encouraged me to give up bf with DD1 and i was a teenager and just thought she knew best. With my youngest, DC5, I bf for 11 months and had much more support. I think it is great that they push bf more these days and it really helped me.

People saying - baby number 1 bf always ill, baby number 2 ff never ill is total anecdata . statistically and physiologically speaking, breastfeeding is normal, formula feeding is risky.

i would rather any future baby's i have, god forbid something happen to me or my boobs, had human milk with human proteins and human stem cells yadda yadda yadda

This thread is too long to read all, but on the off chance someone hasn't already said this, I think it's hysterically funny that some people would give their preemies donated bm, but think it would be safer to give a term newborn formula. Isn't donated bm pasteurized anyway?

My MIL was paid for her expressed bm in the GDR. All bf mums (a large majority) were told that they must empty both breasts at every feed to avoid mastitis. A van then came round every week to collect the milk which was given to babies whose mums couldn't feed. Of course formula was produced by Evil Western Capitalists, so a last resort (if used at all, I don't know any more, sorry).