Has anyone used donated breast milk to feed their baby?

[Daya]

I won't be able to breast feed my baby due in 8 weeks due to the medication i am taking. Feel pretty awful about this and am looking to find a way to be able to use donated breast milk for the first weeks / months.

Has anyone managed to do this? Which websites did you use?

I have so far posted on the human milk for human babies site and one called milkshare.

Both don't seem very busy

I'd be v grateful for any advice.

Have you double checked that you really can't feed with the medication that you will need to take?

Some women are told they can't when in fact there are very few medication that acutaly mean you can feed. Try contacting the drugs in breastmilk helpline
www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/drugs-in-breastmilk.html

Just to make sure, they may even be able to tell you if there is an alternative.

I haven't, but I am on the human milk for human babies page. I saw a post from someone this morning that must be you? I find they get lots of offers of milk but not many requests, so you may find you can get help. I did notice an offer from Scotland (I am in Scotland too) but not sure of the logistics of couriers etc.

I second checking with the BFN whether you can actually breastfeed though if you haven't already. You may be able to or there may be an alternative drug you can take.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the info about the BFN, I will give them a call tomorrow but have done a bit of reading myself and feel formula is probably safer than my milk as the research all seems a bit negative.

Hi midori - that was my post on HMFHB, I will send a message to the women in Scotland and hopefully it's possible to sort out the logistics. It sounds like the site is used quite a lot - I think I just paniced a bit this morning when it all looked a bit quiet.

I had a friend's milk for DD3 when I was too ill to make much milk (luckily she takes one of the same meds as me - I take a skinful! - so DD3 had her regular teeny tiny exposure to the same drug she swam in in-utero). I am still grateful to her and it was nearly 2 years ago (and it wasn't gallons of milk either!)

You would be surprised how many women get told they can't breastfeed on their meds when in fact they are compatible. Some Drs even have no idea of the mechanisms in place that enable/disable medicines from reaching breastmilk.

I once had to explain to a Dr that if the medicine is injectable only (i.e. not orally available) then it doesn't matter how much gets in BM the baby won't be able to digest it either, as otherwise they would just stick a tablet in a cup of milk for you to drink not stick a needle in you! Breastmilk doesn't make drugs digestible!

Wendy Jones who runs the BfN's Drugs in Breastmilk helpline is a pharmacist and a breastfeeding counsellor so she sees it from both sides, plus she has access to all the latest studies and trials so will have the most up to date information. She is really great and has helped me personally quite a few times over compatibility (like I say I take a skinful!).

Then if you get the 'no-go' from her that the meds aren't safe and there are no appropriate alternatives, you will know you have done all you could and donor milk and/or formula are the way forward (I can't imagine how upset I would be if I was told I couldn't bf only to find out later it had been possible).