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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why my breast milk is good enough for my baby but not for anyone else's?

110 replies

entropygirl · 20/08/2011 16:22

I wanted to donate breast milk but found out I would be disqualified due to having a blood transfusion after labour. Noone ever suggested to me that I should not breast feed because of the transfusion, so it seems my milk is safe for my baby but not safe for anyone else's baby. This seems outrageous to me! If breast milk is such an asset, particularly for prem babies, then why disqualify people based on the stupidly tiny chance of blood transfusion generated vCJD when there is not even any evidence the disease can be transmitted through milk?

OP posts:
EvenLessNarkyPuffin · 20/08/2011 16:23
SauvignonBlanche · 20/08/2011 16:33

YABU

Ryma · 20/08/2011 16:34

so you bf you baby, but cant donate to others??

HarrietJones · 20/08/2011 16:37

I cant donate either due to blood transfusion. I didnt think of it in this context, just they are vv careful what they give other peoples babies

Original poster
entropygirl · 20/08/2011 16:42

Ryma - yes that's right. I just can't wrap my head around a risk that is sufficiently bad that there is no option when it comes to other babies but so insignificant it wasn't worth mentioning when it came to mine....
I'd pretend Im worried for my DD but in reality I just wanted to do something to cheer myself up and help the local hospital after all the help they gave me and was upset to have the rug pulled from under my fantasy.

OP posts:
Ryma · 20/08/2011 16:44

is that official? who told you? than your baby not supposed to have as well.

southmum · 20/08/2011 17:05

YABU

Its up to you if you bf your baby after a transfusion (even though there is prob no risk whatsoever) but tbh I wouldnt want your bf milk just incase so can understand why you cant donate

unfitmother · 20/08/2011 17:09

Hardly "outrageous", why not contact the milk bank and ask them to explain it to you?

SardineQueen · 20/08/2011 17:09

I can see your point that it is a bit odd. That if they think there is a risk of consuming your breast milk, that they would offer you tests before you fed it to your own baby, or counsel you as to the risks and what they were before you decided whether to give BM or formula ie make an informed decision.

Did they counsel you or offer you tests?

RitaMorgan · 20/08/2011 17:10

YANBU to think that if it is a risk, then they should have told you about it!

And if it isn't a risk to your baby, why is it a risk to anyone elses Confused

Original poster
entropygirl · 20/08/2011 17:12

unfitmother - no need to ask, its in their faq

'There are no known cases of vCJD being transmitted via breastmilk or breastfeeding including donor breastmilk.'

What better reason could there be to disqualify people from donating....

OP posts:
unfitmother · 20/08/2011 17:16

The fact that is not proven to be impossible?

SardineQueen · 20/08/2011 17:18

Well the key is whether the OP was offered tests before BF her own baby, or talked to about the transfusion and the risks it presented in BF her own child, so that she could decide whether to BF or not.

OP did that happen?

stickylittlefingers · 20/08/2011 17:19

was your baby premature? I wonder if it's because the babies they'd be giving the milk to might be particularly vulnerable, whereas your own was not?

SauvignonBlanche · 20/08/2011 17:19

It is a little understood condition so hence the extreme caution - it's nothing personal so don't let it upset you, I'm sure you can help in other ways.

Casmama · 20/08/2011 17:24

My guess is because if a child was to contract a disease as a result of drinking donated milk then the parents could presumably sue the hospital whereas it would, I imagine, more difficult to sue them if you passed on a disease to your child. I don't actually know but guess it is more about financial liability than anything else.

SummerRain · 20/08/2011 17:24

Actually there is some evidence that vCJD can be transmitted through milk (it has potentially occurred in sheep and cattle with BSE which is the prion disease from which vCJD originated)).

There are also the risks of other transmitted diseases which were not picked up by the screening process.

Donated breast milk has enough ethical issues surrounding preventing many people from accepting/donating, the damage that would be done by a tiny prem baby contracting an illness because of donated milk would irreparably damage the entire system.

You also can't donate blood, by your reasoning that means they're saying the blood was good enough for you but isn't good enough for another person who needs it. In fact what is being done is ensuring that if a contagion were to enter the blood bank it could only be passed to one person, not multiple third parties.

That blood saved your life.... be grateful for that instead of picking holes in a system that has been designed to ensure the utmost safety of people like you who receive donated blood/milk/tissue.

SardineQueen · 20/08/2011 17:26

"You also can't donate blood, by your reasoning that means they're saying the blood was good enough for you but isn't good enough for another person who needs it."

But if there is something in your blood, then you have it.

If there is something in the OPs milk, then her baby could catch it ie a different person who would not otherwise have it.

So that is not a good analogy.

I want to know if the OP was talked to about the risks of BF her own baby after the transfusion, so that she could make an informed choice whether to do so or not. That is key as to whether OP is BU or not.

SardineQueen · 20/08/2011 17:28

Because if they didn't say anything to OP about risks for her own baby and just let her go ahead and BF without a word, and then told her that her milk may be contaminated and was therefore not suitable for donation, then she is most definitely not being U.

SardineQueen · 20/08/2011 17:30

Oh in fact it's in the OP:

"Noone ever suggested to me that I should not breast feed because of the transfusion"

So OP is most definitely not being U. They should have discussed these risks with her before allowing her to BF her own baby, not let her feed her baby and tell her later that her BM may transmit a fatal disease.

StrikeUpTheBand · 20/08/2011 17:32

I understand what you are saying. The irony was not lost on me that I wasn't allowed to donate blood. The reason that I wasn't allowed was because I received blood products myself! From the same people I was wanting to donate to!

Original poster
entropygirl · 20/08/2011 17:32

To clarify - noone mentioned the risk to me wrt my own baby (who was full term). I reject the idea that prem babies are more at risk from vCJD than full term babies as it kills adults as easily as children. As for being cautious, obviously if they have nice 'clean' milk (or milk only contaminated with one of a million things they don't check for) coming out of their ears then obviously don't take it from transfusion patients, but this doesnt seem to be the case. So the real question is whether given a choice of no breast milk for your baby or breast milk from someone with a microscopically increased chance of vCJD over the (unscreened) general public, which would you choose? Or more importantly should you get the choice which is currently unavailable.

OP posts:
duchesse · 20/08/2011 17:35

I guess they are on the whole giving donated milk to very very tiny and sick babies, and if you have ever hung out in a NICU you would have seen them treat feeds for these babies like medicine- double-checking quantities and provenance with a colleague before feeding (usually through a naso-gastric tube). Because these babies are so very tiny and sick they cannot take any chances with it and your transfusion was quite recent. I know it seems perverse but they cannot take any chances.

SardineQueen · 20/08/2011 17:39

But OP is allowed to take chances with her own baby, to the point that no-one even bothers telling her there may be a risk?

That is illogical and wrong IMO.

Either the milk is potentially contaminated or not. If it is, they should have talked to her about the risk and allowed her to make an informed choice whether or not to BF her own baby.

LolaRennt · 20/08/2011 17:41

I don't think the yawn was called for?

Op yanbu, I don't get it either. If the person who had given you the blood donated milk they could likely donate blood too. But because you have received the blood which is deemed safe you can't donate milk.

Can you look in to donating privately, I had a hell of a time with bf and would have loved donated breast milk (dd would have anyway!)

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