Ingenious Idea OR just plain stupid?

[KrissieJules]

It really gets to me the amount of breast milk that new mothers waste - when that lovely colostrum could be doing WONDERS for the preemies in neo-natal.

I think hospitals should offer a milk bank service (I know these do already exist but not efficiently) I wanted to donate but being based in Manchester was not able to :(

Whereby, new mothers on post-natal wards can be asked to donate their new milk (whether they are breastfeeding or not) for the premature babies whose mother's milk has undoubtedly dried up as many do :(

An ENDLESS supply as women constantly give birth - constant stream of nutrient rich, life saving colostrum and it may also show mothers the real power of breastmilk!

Am I crazy??

But how would that work?

Because colostrum comes in minuscule amounts. Tiny wee drops of it. I sat with a breast pump in hospital after having DC1 trying to encourage mine to flow and it was tiny amounts.

It isn't until day 2-3 that the milk comes in, by which point with both my DCs I was already back at home.

And mums who have decided not to breastfeed won't exactly be wanting to express, will they?

Sorry if I've missed something? I think milk banks are a brilliant idea and mums should be encouraged to donate, but I don't see how your idea would work.

(I am pro-bf BTW.)

Sorry, but I wanted all that wonderful colostrum to go into my baby. There was so little of it, it took me half an hour of hard work to fill a tiny syringe. I wouldn't then go and give that away to another baby while mine went hungry.

I certainly agree with you that better milk bank services would be wonderful - I'm lucky that in my area it was easy to donate and was well run.

However I agree with Poppywearer - everytime my milk has come in I have already been at home. Expressing in hospital would have netted miniscule amounts of colostrum. Also you only have to skim the threads here to see how many issues mothers have with establishing bf - mums of more than one too not only first time mothers - with the state of bf support as it stands I can't see enough mothers getting appropriate support and advice to enable them to express as well as establish feeding their own baby(ies).
The question also has to be asked - considering the uptake of other initiatives in hospital, would there be enough takers amongst new mothers to make the financial outlay of getting bodies on wards viable? Much better to concentrate on building on what we have imo.
Also - I have been lucky with my births but many new mothers are not in a fit state to be approached immediately after birth.
So, my summary after that marathon - It's neither ingenious or crazy but we could do better than we are by concentrating our resources better and trying to get consistent quality across the board instead of having excellent hospitals/birth centres and awful ones. Imo, ymmv.

I don't think it would work.

New mothers need to and usually want to concentrate solely on their baby. Mothers who don't want to breastfeed are unlikely to want to express to donate their colostrum to someone else's baby. And many pre-term mothers can be supported to build up and maintain a breastmilk supply with support and the right sort of help.

I'd hate to see infrastructure that could be used to support pre-term bf and the establishment of bf in term babies being diverted to persuading mothers to donate at that early stage of motherhood.

Breastmilk banks are great, but not like that, sorry :(

Most mothers of preemies express for their babies so their supply doesn't dry up & the baby has bm, so I don't think anyone else expressing would be needed.

Agree with the others but would also point out that really, if new mums aren't going to breastfeed, then it's usually not a good idea for them to start the milk production going as they then have to stop at some point which can be painful/uncomfortable.
If they don't want to breastfeed, why would they donate milk to someone else's child rather than their own?

My sister, for e.g. - never wanted to breastfeed, was disgusted by the whole thing, said she would feel "like a cow", and 5 out of 6 of her AN group felt the same. Pity, but there you are. That feeling would be massively increased if they were pumping for a milk bank!

Not plain stupid, as an idea - but not ingenious either. I think just a bit naive, maybe - I don't think it's workable.
Milk banks are usually donated to by women who have more milk than their baby can cope with, afaik. And more power to them!

Ahh I see your issue about establishing a milk supply in mothers choosing not to bf.

And I was thinking electric pump? Rather than hand expressing. I was always I was always under the impression that colostrum was in supply for the first few days - and within milk rather than one small injection at the start.

I thought about it after reading an article entitled - "the first 7 hours" which detailed that if every baby received mothers milk for the first 7hrs after birth we could eradicate ALOT of illnesses in newborns!

I think we need to be promoting the power of milk more rather than the campaigns that make out - she breastfeeds - she's a star. Has everyone seen those? I can see why women who choose not to feel like 'bad mums' etc.

Not to mention the financial benefits!

Young mum's who are living on the bare minimum are in the age group LEAST likely to breastfeed - when they would be reaping the financial rewards. I've seen powder milk - it's NOT cheap!

Krissie, I live in manchester and donate milk to the Chester milk bank. They came and collected, sent what I needed via post.

Electric pumps are not usually a good idea in the first days - hand expression of colostrum is more effective.

Krissie, sorry, it's a really bad idea - of course your principle that it would benefit babies' health to have colostrum in the first days after birth is great, but you'd be asking other new mothers to provide it out of the goodness of their heart....there would be no money to pay for it, as it would be seen as an altruistic gesture (the way blood is donated).

New mothers have more than enough to do, focussing on their own babies. There just isn't the emotional space or physical time to devote to others.