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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that breastmilk should be sold in the supermarket?

158 replies

paranoid2android · 04/12/2011 09:48

Wouldn't it make sense? Then every baby could benefit from breastmilk, even if their mums don't can't/don't want to breastfeed. Women could sell access breastmilk to 'farms' to stock the shops.It does strike me as being quite bizarre that we feed powdered milk from a cow to our children, that mothers sharing breastmilk would be seen as unusual.

OP posts:
Bibbo · 04/12/2011 20:59

would love to buy breastmilk if I could ever afford it which I probably couldn't

on the other hand, sounds like a nice little earner for some women - work from home, flexible hours etc - as long as it was fairly traded obv!

blackoutthexmaslights · 04/12/2011 21:09

well it really wouldn't work. i think its better for women to donate their brest milk to scbu rather then seeing it in the shops

i wouldn't buy it as dd couldn't have breast milk anyway

Backtobedlam · 04/12/2011 21:18

I would have donated to a milk bank but wasn't really aware of them until reading it on here. I also really didn't enjoy expressing and would spend weeks trying to fit it in, to save up enough milk for a night out. There's no way I'd want to sit with a pump on, not giving my own child time/attention for milk to be sold in supermarkets-the only exception would be for an nhs milk bank or for a significantly high payment, which would make bm too expensive in the shops.

I don't agree that the aristocracy not bf is an attitude still ingrained today. From my experienceI it's the other way round...the better off have more time, support and education than those in the poorest areas. Sometimes it almost seems like a competition to be bf, only eating/feeding organic, no caffeine in diet etc.

AnotherMincepie · 04/12/2011 21:23

YABU. Formula is fine, many babies thrive on it and there's no need for an alternative.

Sevenfold · 04/12/2011 21:25

yabu
and boring and patronising

NinkyNonker · 04/12/2011 21:30

Agreed. BF seems to be the preserve of the middle classes now, despite perhaps having more money to buy formula. Personally formula would always be my last resort, I would exhaustively pursue BM before using it. But everyone is different.

NinkyNonker · 04/12/2011 21:34

I'd say there is a need. Many women want the benefits of BM but can't breastfeed for whatever reason, just look at the knots people tie themselves up in over on the BF board. If BM were available elsewhere easily (milk banks, Human Milk for Human Babies etc should be more publicised) then less women would torment themselves this way.

MorrisZapp · 04/12/2011 21:37

What freaked me out when I was BF was that it felt as if every drop was sacred - I remember the hassle of trying to decant, freeze, defrost etc bags of BM and having plenty of tearful moments over wasted milk.

I switched to FF and it was a huge stress releif - I knew it was widely available and that if I spilt some or DS refused it or spat it up, it was no great loss.

I wouldn't want to chuck anybodys hard-won BM down the sink, it is heartbreaking. But formula you can play fast and loose with. Suited me well.

MigGril · 04/12/2011 21:54

scarletforya - It's a socail thing, you find that in some country's they would freck out at the idea of drinking cows milk. Mainly becuase we as a human race are actually unable to digest cows milk (bear with me a minute hear). There is a gean in westerner's that allows us to drink milk of other speacies, it's a mutation which happen some where along our evolution. There are many people all over the world who can't tollerate cows milk.

One of the many reasion why formula is not sustaiable for the whole population. Plus we can't in any steach of the imagination make enough formula to feed all baby's there just aren't enough cows in the world. We are very lucky to be able to have the option of feeding formula in the west, most countrys it's just to expensive and can't not be made safely.

My point being is that if we can't even make enough formula from cows milk there is no way we'd be able to meet the demands with human milk. Maybe in the fuature they will be able to make human milk in a lab using breast tissue. That could be the way forward.

But really better support to help all those mum's who really want to feed is the best answer to the problem anyhow.

RomanChristingle · 04/12/2011 22:13

I think it is a good idea in theory and I wouldn't find it icky. I would have paid a premium for it if it was available. It wouldn't work though for the reasons mentioned. Also if it came in powdered form presumably it would have the same risk of contamination when making up the feed as formula.

BertieBotts · 04/12/2011 22:22

That's interesting, Morris, I never really felt like that about mine, even though I couldn't express at all after 9 months or so.

JosieZ · 04/12/2011 22:23

Great idea - I would have used it if it had been available.

A1980 · 04/12/2011 23:26

Don't have time to read the whole thread but re this comment:

It does strike me as being quite bizarre that we feed powdered milk from a cow to our children, that mothers sharing breastmilk would be seen as unusual.

Not at all bizarre. Human milk might be ideal for humans but human viruses and bacteria are also ideal to infect other humans. There are very few animal infections that jump the species barrier and infect humans. But human infections are perfect to infect humans with. Powered cows milk is safer. I wouldn't chance buying breastmilk. I can't imagine supply would meet demand anyway.

AriesWithBellsOn · 04/12/2011 23:35

Cattle have been farmed in the West for thousands of years. That's why we in the West have developed the necessary enzyme (I think it's an enzyme rather than a gene but I'm not sure) to digest it. It's not poison. Some people in Kenya drink milk mixed with blood - I wouldn't fancy it myself but there must be nutritional value it in or they wouldn't do it.

chippy47 · 04/12/2011 23:47

If it was on the shelf at Tesco you may find it is being bought by people it is probably not intended for. Lots of strange people out there.

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 05/12/2011 02:33

"Breast feeding is work ... you have to be very careful with what you do/don't consume..."

This is a myth which undermines breastfeeding. You don't have to be very careful with what you do and don't consume as poor diet affects the mother rather than the baby.

women's bodies are producing, on average, just enough and no more."

So how did wet nurses manage then?! Another misunderstanding.

Yes, a lactating woman produces exactly what is needed, but that supply can be increased and decreased as needed.

Think about it. If a wet nurse was given another baby to add to her remit, she'd put it to the breast and soon enough, her supply would increase to accommodate her new charge. Likewise, when our own babies go through growth spurts, we put them to the breast or let them feed for longer order to increase our supply.

It's very simple. If the OP's idea was a serious one - and I doubt it ever will be, but if it was - it would be easy enough to increase a woman's supply beyond what is needed for her own baby. After all, this is exactly what diary farmers do with their cows....!

I know these two points are slightly off topic, but it's really undermining to see these sorts of things passed off as truth.

The reason a lot of women don't even try, or quickly give up breastfeeding, is because they don't think their diet is up to the job. How do you think malnourished women in famine-ridden countries manage? They might not be getting enough nutrition, but their babies certainly are.

dancingmustard · 05/12/2011 04:37

Are we getting confused with breastfeeding and breast milk here ?
Breastfeeding is a close bond to between mother and child.
Breast milk can and is substituted with acceptable substitutions.
My dear old mam breastfed her children but without a fridge she said she felt exhausted all the time.
Let's not go back to that ehhh?

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 05/12/2011 05:02

What....? Confused

Not go back to... no fridges...?

HughBastard · 05/12/2011 06:10

I was under the impression that part of the genius of breastfeeding is that my uber-boobs make my milk quenchier when it's hot and creamier when it's cold and notice if we're coming down with a bug and give my baby the antibodies he needs based on the library of my immune system. Surely none of that would apply to Tesco Boob Milk?

FellatioNelson · 05/12/2011 06:44

The only way you could ever source enough breast milk to make it a realistic commercial alternative to FF would be to exploit poor women. and probably poor women from the developing world, at that.

Wet Nurses anyone?

We are all (apart from a teeny-tiny minority) capable of producing our own breast milk. If you really, really believe that breast milk is the be all and end all, then you find a way to use your own, come hell or high water. Everyone else who has a more ...shall we say, relaxed approach will get by just fine and dandy on formula. I imagine most FFers do feed their babies colostrum in the all-important first days and weeks, but just do not wish to BF in the medium and long term.

Besides, for many evangelical BFers it is as much about the physical act as about the milk itself.

FellatioNelson · 05/12/2011 06:46

Sorry, to clarify, I do mean sourcing the BM and selling it packaged, I don't mean that it would literally be a return to wetnursing, more of a figurative return!

JimbosJetSet · 05/12/2011 06:58

I'd be devastated if I couldn't BF my baby for any reason. What would stop me from using another woman's milk would be the cost involved and also the not knowing how to go about buying it from someone else. So if I could pop into Tesco and stock up, great.

And on the other hand, assuming I could BF no problem, the opportunity to get a fair paid 'work from home' job (or at least one with flexible hours!) for expressing my excess milk, so I could stay at home for longer with my baby, sounds very appealing too Grin

nooka · 05/12/2011 07:18

I'm curious about Tricky's post because I can't see how you could source enough breastmilk to supply so many babies for so long. I wonder how much it costs on the logistical side (screening, storage, delivery) and more importantly about the small amount of money for the mothers doing the supplying. It could be a very altruistic country with a very high rate of breastfeeding (ie a small amount of milk is needed) or somewhere where there are mothers desperate for money. I really don't like the idea of commericalising breastmilk, plus I think it if there is goign to be financial compensation it should be significant.

OddBaubles · 05/12/2011 07:22

I would be really surprised if there wasn't a formula company out there somewhere pumping money into stem cell research to make human milk producing cells that could used in a factory setting.

SoupDragon · 05/12/2011 07:28

Theoretically it is a great idea. Realistically, it wouldn't work due to supply issues. The cost would be prohibitively expensive for this reason too.

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