to think that breastmilk should be sold in the supermarket?

[paranoid2android]

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.

If breast milk were available in cartons, do you think breast-feeding rates would drop further?

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

So if you needed a blood transfusion you'd prefer cow's blood, would you?

Or would you just assume the human blood had been screened? Yunno, just like human donayed breastmilk is .

YABU. I've visited dairy farms, and the image of all those cows replaced by lactating women is creepy a hell.

It's a great idea that breastmilk should be available for all, but I don't think supermarket shelves are the answer.

What strikes me most about this thread is the ignorance surrounding breastmilk/breastfeeding.

yes, thats a really good idea................................

will we have a dairy with lactationg women permantently having their nips squeezed by some mega machine

"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."

fwiw I think there is historical evidence to suggest that many wet nurses weaned their own children early and/or fed them partly on substitutes. Many wet nurses in the later periods had to leave their own children behind in their village. Some children of wet nurses were able to grow up with their "milk brothers" and thrive, others did not.

But wet nursing is one thing: expressing into a bottle a totally different thing.

Some women- I was one of them- find it very easy to produce a surplus of milk: I had no problems filling the freezer and donating to the milk bank. But I still wouldn't want to do this for a living.

Other women find their supply is precisely tailored to the needs of an actual baby and that expressing is incredibly difficult.

But even assuming that you could find enough women to do this, the cost of screening, collecting and storing would make it very expensive.

I'd hate to see breastmilk become a commercial commodity, and the fear of milk farms isn't that far fetched, where there's profit there is someone who's not very 'nice' or ethical.

I'd like to see more services for donating milk, easier access etc., but that would cost a lot.

I'd have loved to donate my milk to the SCBU but try as I might with every pump on the market I couldn't express, even though I was weighed down with milk.

I breastfed both my children, BUT I am not a bf'er who thinks formula is evil.

No one says it's evil, no one says it's poison.

It isn't as good as breastmilk. That is all. Dead simple. Shall we not invoke the strawman, please?

I had loads of extra milk for all of my children, wished i was informed about donating it to hospital babies, such a waste really.

oddBaubles - they don't need to bother cos in the past 50 - 60 years the marketing of formula has suceeded in making it the 'norm' and in some cases the 'preferable' way to feed babies.

There are many,many people like the poster on here, who would not want to bf or give their baby bm because milk from another species is more acceptable

Formula companies do very little research and what they do is all about maximising profits. They are not altruistic

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

Then you wrote:

'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.

it's really undermining to see these sorts of things passed off as truth.'

I never suggested it was about the health of the baby rather than the mother. I find your post really offensive. I am not undermining breastfeeding; you are simply making a bizarre assumption.

To say that you don't have to be careful with diet when breast feeding because the poor diet affects the mother's health is an utterly vile thing to say. Do mothers not matter then?

^So if you needed a blood transfusion you'd prefer cow's blood, would you?

Or would you just assume the human blood had been screened? Yunno, just like human donayed breastmilk is^

Theres still a risk with every blood transfusion/blood product. You cant screen for everything.

Wasn't the point that you don't need to be any more cautious about what you eat when breastfeeding than you do normally ?

As for the supply question , the body isn't psychicly linked to the baby knowing how much he or she wants or whether there are twins or whatever , it's all hormonal and the body responding to signals such as the milk being removed from the breast , so with the right knowledge and hormones ,lactation can be induced or stimulated.

I think this is an interesting point as well - this knowledge already exists but is not widely known or used by health professionals in supporting women to breastfeed. It would be very sad and ironic if these kinds of techniques became used to produce human milk for a commercial market, but not to help women feed their own babies. Someone said above as well whether being able to buy breastmilk in supermarkets would lead to a reduction in breastfeeding rates overall ; I think there is a real danger that if breastmilk were so easily available it would likely reduce nhs support of breastfeeding because there is an alternative which really can claim to be just as good.

Do you think some women may get pregnant so they could sell their breastmilk?

Maybe a tiny, tiny minority. Not worth stressing about.

'West have developed the necessary enzyme' yes ti is an enzyme but it's a gene mutation that allows us to produce it.

There must have been some evolutionaly advanctage in our part of the world for us to be able to consume other milk.

I still think is very odd that we see drinking cows milk as so normal when if you suggested drinking BM to some one they would probably think you where wired.

'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?'

Yes but non of this happen's with formula milk either and it doesn't contain any of the live elliments of BM. BM changes in consistancy as baby's get older but formula doesn't change (although they are bring in more toddler milks)

The WHO acutaly recomends milk from another mother over BM. There recomendation being.

1. Milk from the mum fed directly to baby.
2. Expressed milk from the mother.
3. Breast milk from another mother.
4. Formula milk.

Donated milk save premi baby's live's but I don't think it would ever be comercialy viable.

The survival rate for prem babies given donated bmilk as opposed to those given formula, makes frightening reading.
The death rate for formula fed prem babies is 26%-37% higher.
In the UK parents are told how much better donated milk is and yet still some choose powdered cows.

I bet someone can find me a graph showing that those from a poor socio-economic background, birth during teen years, dont have a partner etc tend to bottle feed. Not least because formula is free

Well I got pregnant in my teen years and I was on the dole after coming from a benefit family. I breastfed all my 4 children!
My dsis bfed but my mum had no inclination and all my friends bar 1 formula fed.

If we're concerned about the health of the nation, wouldn't it be better and easier for supermarkets to stop selling Haribos?

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

Surely Formula is the alternative.

Breastmilk is what was intended for our babies to eat. Same as cows drink cows milk and dogs drink dogs milk. Formula was just a way to sell off surplus milk and in some families is now considered the norm which whilst it works it is nowhere near as good as breastmilk

I'm in Hungary, for those who have asked.

And to answer nooka's questions: yes, I expect that we're talking about a fairly small amount of breast milk. Apart from there being a fairly small population, I would be unsure about how extensive the scheme is outside of the cities. Plus, I don't know what the actual eligibility is for getting it delivered free- I would expect you would have to have a really quite poorly baby. That said, it seems very much the 'norm' to breastfeed here (I've no idea about actual statistics) and have known ppl to share expressed breast milk between them. Perhaps the overall approach to expressing and donating is slightly different.

I couldnt breastfeed due to medication that I have to take that would have been passed through into breast milk. I think if breast milk had been available (either commercially or otherwise) I would have jumped at the chance and powdered breast milk would have been perfect. Not ick at all.

Hmmm. There's an opportunity here for an entrepreneur, isn't there? Instead of supermarkets selling breast milk, we could have an agency staffed by wet nurses in each town. That way, you'd know who was feeding your baby so could judge the hygiene standards!!

link

I think someone is already working on it!