One of the most controversial topics surrounding the issue of breastfeeding is what a woman should do if she finds herself unable to nurse her baby. An even more prickly subject is whether learning how to make homemade baby formula is a good idea.
I myself nursed all three of my children for an extended period of time. The first two were nursed for two years and the third for three and a half years. I practiced parent led weaning for the first 2 children as I did not want to be nursing and pregnant at the same time. For my third and youngest child, I simply allowed her to wean herself whenever she chose.
I’ve often considered what I would have done should I have found myself unable to nurse. Certainly commercial formulas are not a good option as these highly processed powders are loaded with rancid vegetable oils and denatured proteins. Even the organic baby formulas on the market should be avoided for this reason.
Is Homemade Formula Superior to Donor Breastmilk?
What about homemade baby formula made with milk, kefir, or yogurt from grassfed cows or free roaming, foraging goats? Would this formula be superior to human breastmilk from a donor milk bank?
To me, most folks’ opinion on this issue basically boils down to whether they feel that human breastmilk is suitable for an infant regardless of the diet of the Mother. I am of the persuasion that the breastfeeding Mother’s diet is critical to the nutrient density of her breastmilk. I wrote about this in an article commenting on the news story about a vegan Mother whose breastfed baby died.
Nutrient starved Mother = nutrient poor breastmilk
Science is backing this up. Published 2019 research found that the diversity of beneficial probiotics varies greatly from woman to woman perhaps due to dietary factors.
Color and Creamline of Breastmilk Varies Based on Diet
I know from personal experience how my diet affected the color and thickness of my breastmilk. With my first child, I ate everything organic but did not consume many traditional fats or sacred foods. My breastmilk was white with little cream on the top. My baby was also hungry all the time and wanted to nurse frequently. He also spit up a lot which I now know was my consumption of pasteurized organic dairy and improperly prepared grains during that time.
With my next 2 children, my breastmilk went from white to beige and had considerably more fat simply by adding lots of butter, cream, egg yolks, grassfed meat, and fish eggs to my diet. As an added bonus, my children were satisfied more quickly and stayed full much longer between feedings. They also never spit up unless I ate out at a restaurant or had consumed some low quality, non-Traditionally prepared food for whatever reason.
I sure wish I had frozen a few ounces of that breastmilk before and after my Real Food conversion. A picture would have been worth a thousand words!
Few Breastfeeding Women Follow a Real Food, Traditional Diet
Because the vast majority of women do not follow a Real Food, Traditional diet and because I so clearly observed the difference in my own breastmilk when I made the change myself, I would have chosen to make a homemade baby formula with raw milk from grassfed cows instead of seeking donor breastmilk.
To me, it would have been way too risky and far too likely that the donor breastmilk would have come from Moms drinking coffee or diet drinks, eating fast food, taking over the counter prescription drugs and the like. At least with grassfed cows, you know what they are eating and that they aren’t taking any drugs!
Holder Method of Pasteurization
Then there’s also the huge problem that many donor milk banks pasteurize the breastmilk!
And, no, the “Holder method of pasteurization” used by breastmilk banks is just as damaging as conventional pasteurization at dairy plants.
Yes, the Holder method is not as high (62.5ºC/144.5ºF) as flash pasteurization (71ºC/160ºF or higher), but all the enzymes and probiotics are still destroyed at 48ºC/118ºF, so don’t buy that line frequently spouted by donor bank advocates.
I give my opinion on this topic with one caveat.
If I could have found a few Moms that I knew who were eating a Real Food diet, I definitely would have accepted their breastmilk donations for my child if necessary.
But, from a donor milk bank, this information is 100% unknown. And, with Real Food Moms in the minority, using donor milk is just not worth the risk.
What about you? Would you have chosen homemade formula or a donor breastmilk bank? Why or why not?
Thank u for posting such an important topic. I breast fed all three of my children. I think that there is nothing better for a baby than human breast milk. With that being said, I understand that is not always possible for all. I would not feel at all comfortable with any milk donor, but I would be fine with it, if it were someone that I knew. I live in Dubai for the last 25 years and someone in my ex husbands family had taken in an orphan new born baby at the time that I had my second child. May breasts were full, and the orphan baby was the same age as my baby, two weeks old, so I breast fed him. My sister in law also had breast milk and breast fed him too. I know that slot of people would find breast feeding and surrogate breast feeding very odd, but I love it! And I think it was fantastic that u were able to breast feed ur children for a long period of time. The bonding between mother and baby is so sacred.
I think wet nursing (surrogate nursing) is a loving gift to both the child and to the mother of the child! It certainly is traditional, having a long and valid history. We only think its wrong because we have been raised, in the U.S., to be anal retentive.
I try to eat a sacred diet now that I am breastfeeding. What would you say are the top 5 things I should absolutely not consume during lactation?
I would say:
Unnatural fats. (Canola oil, margarine etc.)
Sugar
Soy (unfermented especially)
Pasteurized milk products
Unsoaked/sprouted grains
Also food colorings and additives (like MSG)
What to include would be:
Good animal meat (especially liver and other organ meats from organic, free range animals)
Good animal fats (butter, lard, ghee)
Eggs (especially fish eggs)
Probiotic foods
Veggies (with lots of fat)
Also in there would be raw milk products (I’m not doing any dairy at the moment since I’m on GAPS, but my little one is THRIVING and my milk supply is incredible even without it)
Also fermented cod liver oil (and high vitamin butter oil if you can’t get grassfed dairy) is a must!!!!!!!!
Bone broth is great to.
I am doing all of the good things on your list except fish eggs. Any recommendations of where to find high quality sources? We don’t do any pasteurized milk products, soy or unnatural fats but i do have a sweet tooth. Thank you for your help!
This subject is certainly precious to me. When I was pregnant with my first (over 20 years ago!) I was NOT going to nurse. Fortunately, a beautiful woman convinced me to nurse the first 6 months. After the first month (which was very difficult), I told my dear husband, “One month down, five to go!” But that was not to be. From then on nursing became such a blessing I nursed him until I was almost ready to have baby no 2 when he was 2+ years old. I continued to nurse the rest of my dear blessings. One was born who could not nurse. We met the challenge and nursed her through much trial and challenges. The lastest one was the heartbreaker. I was told to be on a medication which I could not nurse. I was still on a SAD diet and thought I had failed. However, I am not a quitter. I turned to the internet and found REAL FOOD! I found the Weston Price Foundation, raw milk, grass fed beef, cod liver oil and we are a new family! How I wish I would have found it sooner, but I praise God I found it. My latest was on commercial formula, but I know my God is a gracious God. He has provided us with REAL FOOD for the whole family. My family is in His hands and we look to Him for our future health. By my needing to go on the medication (which I no longer take!), I think our family was actually saved. So, does anyone else want to shout to people in the stores who are struggling but have SAD food in their cart? I don’t shop at “normal” stores much anymore, but when I do it truly is SAD. And I laugh at all the SAD stuff I used to buy and think I was going good. What I am trying to say is life is a process. We will not always “get it 100% right the first time.” We need to accept that we are human, pick up the pieces and move forward. I have appreciated the blogs that remind us unnecessary guilt, fear and stress will kill us long before SAD food ever will. We just need to keep educating ourselves and move forward. So, knowing what I know, if I am blessed with another beautiful child and cannot nurse, I would make my own formula because I know of precious few REAL FOOD moms who I would trust. And this time I would be educated before and have resources to ask (all my wonderful blog REAL FOODIES) for help. This I did not have before. For all this I am truly thankful. And my children are the real beneficiaries as they know BEFORE marriage and babies the truth about our food in this world. They have read woman in other parts of the world are expected to go on very healthy diets one year before conception and/or marriage. I argued with my (then) doctor that my second child has some problems because I did not gain enough weight. Well, I was on the right track. I was not eating enough animal fat, in fact, I was trying very hard to not gain weight. It made the doctor happy (and me at the time), but my daughter has paid the price. But again, we picked up the pieces and raw milk, grass fed beef and cod liver oil is helping her now. Blessings to all you beautiful moms who knew the truth about food long before I did in my children’s lives.
I am new to the concepts of WAP/NT. The timeliness of this blog is impeccable. I have an almost 7 month old daughter who developed premature breast buds at the age of 4.5 months. She has been on commercial formula exclusively and I believe this is the reason for the buds. None of the mainstream doctors will say this but I believe this to be true. I knew that I needed to get her off of the formula but I was uncertain what to do. So, the research began and it has been a couple of months now and I have decided to make the homemade formula for her. I wish I could have decided more quickly because a few months have passed. I have to work on letting go of the guilt. I have been helped by a local chapter leader, Carrie, and Dr. Daniel. I cannot thank them enough for their ongoing guidance. I am hoping that when we start the formula this coming weekend, it goes smoothly. Sarah, your video was extremely helpful and makes the process seem much less intimidating. Thank you!!! 🙂
Hi Melissa, I am very happy for you making this leap. Please check back and let us know how it’s all going!
I also donated, I was on the best diet I knew of at the time, for my own babies, and for the African babies that were not only orphaned by, but suffering from HIV and AIDS. I believe that mom’s who donate are looking to help, and generally more educated about their diet effecting their breastmilk. It isn’t a perfect system, but it is an option, and one that should not be dismissed automatically. The previous donors have all spoken to the screening process, the medication restrictions, and the love with which they sat, while their other children were not always cooperative, and pumped for whatever child might be saved by this amazing thing that only mothers can do. WAP has lots of recommendations for raw animal milk for babies (which is great), but it isn’t always possible, and for babies with a greatly weakened immune system, I’m not sure it is best, at least until their gut has been populated by some good human breastmilk.
donor mlik. and as I write I am pumping to donate my milk to babies in need…and waiting on the FEDEX guy to pick up 5 boxes of frozen mlik.
I wish there were more people out there like you! I was a foster parent for 6 years and always wished that DSHS would allow me to provide human breastmilk for these precious little babies. I would have even relacted myself, if allowed.(I’m a TF follower, and actually grew up on a TF diet… though we just called it food.) But DSHS in our state would not allow it. It didn’t matter what our diet was. It was formula all the way. Our nations foster children deserve better!
Wouldn’t the department also be against homemade (raw) formula? I’m in the beginning stages of becoming a foster parent and would just hate to feed a baby commercial formula, but I’m thinking I might not have a choice. Anyone know?
How would the state know what you were feeding the baby? You’ll have bottles in the house. You can buy some cans of the formula and keep on hand. And feed them the homemade formula or get some for HMHB.
It’s what I would do. 🙂
I don’t think I could afford either….
Human Milk 4 Human Babies! https://www.facebook.com/hm4hb
There are so many women willing to help out mother’s who for whatever reason are unable to breastfeed. You can ask the donor mom questions about their nutrition, medication and ask to see test results for disease. I’d chose donor milk over another species milk in a heart beat.
Depends on the screening process for the bm. I produced so much, if we had a bank here, I would have donated willingly.
Are Donor Breastmilk Banks Ever A Good Idea? – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/Q0cxmdb