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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Breast milk icecream?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

74 replies

MrsWembley · 24/02/2011 11:43

That Feltz woman has just announced a topic for her show this lunchtime - is she really correct when she mentioned Mumsnet and women contributing their breast milk to a company who then use it to make icecream???Shock IABU to think this is a bit Hmm? Really? Some people think this ok??

OP posts:
twilight3 · 25/02/2011 19:30

Smile fair enough cloudy. Good post.

KaraStarbuckThrace · 25/02/2011 19:35

I couldn't get over the toppings that were suggested - Bonjela and Calpol, bleughhh. What's wrong with chocolate sprinkles fgs!!

allsquareknickersnofurcoat · 25/02/2011 19:59

Mmmmmmmm, Calpol... [drools]

Did anyone see that they call it "free range" ice cream!!! Grin

myboobsrock · 25/02/2011 20:08

Worth remembering that this ice cream is made from breast milk willing donated by healthy women who have excess milk after feeding their children.

Most ice cream is made from cows milk, from cows who-
Have their calves taken away from them at 1 day old - they are often heard callng for their calves for days afterwards.

Are milked constantly and excessively so that they suffer from painful mastitis, to produce milk for humans that was meant for their calves.

Usually are slaughtered age 4 or 5 even though their natural lifespan would be 25 years, their bodies so spent by this point they're fit only for dog food.

I'd rather have the breastmilk icecream, thanks.

Susiewho · 25/02/2011 20:15

Well said, myboobsrock!

myboobsrock · 25/02/2011 20:18

thanks Susie :)

DerangedSibyl · 25/02/2011 20:44

As if they make dog food out of beef.

They turn it into burgers.

myboobsrock · 25/02/2011 21:47

Afraid not Sibyl - dairy cows meat is not considered fit for human consumption, so it's made into pet food.

myboobsrock · 25/02/2011 21:51

Or low grade burger meat - here -

www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/dairy-industry.aspx

Susiewho · 25/02/2011 21:54

This is worth a read too.

Tupperwarewolf · 25/02/2011 23:34

But presumably, Cloudy, you'd accept a blood or organ donation if you needed it without worrying about social boundaries?

I wouldn't eat this either (and yesterday declined to taste my SIL's milk despite my mum wanting me to check whether it had gone off) but I do think it's completely irrational that I love cow's milk so much Blush (I saw someone on Facebook referring to it as "cow breast milk" earlier which I rather liked - made me stop and think about it).

cloudydays · 25/02/2011 23:58

Yes, Tupperwarewolf, I would, and I made that point myself in an earlier post. I would also gratefully accept the breastmilk of a stranger if I were starving and it were offered.

I would not, however, willingly enjoy breastmilk ice cream as a treat.

Tupperwarewolf · 26/02/2011 00:18

So is it the treat v necessity aspect? Not having a go, just trying to understand your reasoning :)

cloudydays · 26/02/2011 02:07

Hi Tupperwarewolf - I didn't think you were having a go, and the extent to which I've posted on this thread is ridiculously disproportionate to the strength of my feelings on the subject! :)

Yes, the treat v necessity aspect comes into it. To use your own example, I would certainly (and gratefully) accept a kidney from another person if my life or quality of life depended on it. I do not, however, find anything particularly appealing about having another person's kidney transplanted into my body, and if someone offered to give me a kidney just for the heck of it, I'd think that was a bit disturbing.

I would also gratefully accept breastmilk if my health depended on it, and I think it's wonderful that women can donate breastmilk to babies other than their own, whose health may depend on it. I do not, however, find anything particularly appealing about consuming another woman's breastmilk, and if someone offered me some (in ice cream form or otherwise) just for the heck of it, I'd find that disturbing as well.

My need for life and health trump my need for appropriate social boundaries by a long shot, but, for me (and I'm really only trying to explain why the idea of breastmilk ice cream is quease-inducing for me ), those boundaries trump pointless experiments like making ice cream out of each others' bodies.

Consuming cow's milk ice cream - which I do - is a different kettle of fish for me, in much the same way as carnivorism has very different social implications than cannibalism.

I'm not saying that consuming human breastmilk as an adult is on anything near the same social-inappropriateness level as cannibalism, just that the issues it raises concerning the differences between inter-species and intra-species bodily product consumption can be understood in a similar way.

altinkum · 26/02/2011 08:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

altinkum · 26/02/2011 08:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KnickerStrikeForFreedom · 26/02/2011 13:54

I used to make breast milk ice lollies for teething DS too, but he was keen some days and not others so gave up. I bought silicone ice moulds specially for that, found them less messy and they often come in funky shapes, good fun for DS when older, so not a waste of money.

As for "cannibalistic" twang to the BM ice cream idea, well i DON'T agree with selling breast milk products to wannabe gourmets, but in ye olde days if they found someone dying of starvation/dehydration they'd often ask a local new mum to nurse that person. Breastmilk being the only thing a starved stomach wouldn't reject coz it's so easy to digest.

Still baffles me tho why no one has set up a business (or a charity, ideally) collecting excess breastmilk from mothers and selling/giving it away to those who'd like to breastfeed but can't. Hospital milkbank provision is SOOOO patchy and after all, it's not just prem babies who'd benefit from breastmilk. When my freezer was bursting at the seams with bottles of BM, I couldn't find ANYWHERE that would want it. There's no milk bank locally. Even asked my HV whether she knew any mums who are struggling to breastfeed and would take it. NO JOY.

What a missed business opportunity, hey? :(

KnickerStrikeForFreedom · 26/02/2011 14:07

But yeah, I agree with Cloudy in that my ye olde days example actually involves someone's life being dependant on a human product.

Aye, and what about the freaks people who take urine baths?? Apparently for some elusive health benefits? There was a whole movement in the 70s or 80s i think... Shock

KnickerStrikeForFreedom · 26/02/2011 14:09

apologies full link

robotlollypopman · 26/02/2011 14:29

What flavours can you get? Is it just Nipplepolitan?

:-)

allsquareknickersnofurcoat · 26/02/2011 14:31

I've seen Raspberry Nipple, robot

allsquareknickersnofurcoat · 26/02/2011 14:32

Mint choc nip?

Grin
robotlollypopman · 26/02/2011 14:33

Titty Fruity?

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