A study published two days ago in the Journal Pediatrics is sure to give new mothers pause and potentially dampen growth of the burgeoning online business of breastmilk exchange and non-commercial milkshare.
The practice has seen a surge in recent years as new mothers unable to nurse their babies or finding themselves short on supply have turned to internet websites where mothers with ample supply offer human milk for donation or purchase. In 2011 alone, approximately 13,000 people offering to broker breastmilk deals posted on the four top websites.
The study involved 101 breastmilk samples which were purchased online last year from classified ads on the website onlythebreast.com and were then analyzed by a team of researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The samples were purchased for between 50 cents and $3 per ounce.
Of the 101 samples analyzed, 72 were contaminated with bacteria and would not have met criteria for feeding without pasteurization set by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). Surprisingly, the frozen milk was just as contaminated as thawed milk.
Lead researcher Sarah A. Keim charged that the contamination was due to poor milk collection, storage or shipping practices. Coliform, staphylococcus and streptococcus bacteria were discovered. 20% of the samples contained cytomegalovirus, or CMV, which can cause serious illness in premature or sick babies.
Although no testing was done in this area, Keim speculated that “you could be exposing your infant to chemical contaminants, pharmaceuticals or drugs as well” by utilizing online breastmilk exchanges to feed your baby.
When contacted by NBC News, representatives from onlythebreast.com said that they will be halting informal breastmilk exchange based on the study.
Site founder Glen Snow said, “We have made the decision to transition away from offering breast milk classified ads and in the near future completely remove them.”
Snow also intends to revamp the organization by forming a new milk bank program called Milk for Babies. The new approach would involve laboratory screening of milk samples while still permitting donors to be reimbursed.
The major problem with this is that the cost of lab screenings of breastmilk samples will no doubt cause the sourcing of online breastmilk to become unaffordable for many (if not most) new mothers seeking its benefits for their babies.
No Babies Reported Ill From Online Breastmilk Exchange
While the results of the Pediatrics study are indeed disturbing, mothers searching for a way to optimally feed their babies and avoid commercial formula should not be overly alarmed by these findings.
Why?
No babies have been reported sick from consuming breastmilk obtained via online exchanges.
In fact, when I first read this report, which was perhaps not so coincidentally performed by a children’s hospital where commercial formula is aggressively pushed on new mothers after their babies are born, I considered the fact that this study may have been funded with the sole purpose of supporting the interests of the infant formula industry.
It seems others have had similar intuitions. The study has already caused an uproar in the breastfeeding community as advocates of non-commercial milk-sharing sites say the research unfairly tarnishes efforts in recent years to boost access to human milk for all babies even when their mothers aren’t able to breastfeed or produce enough.
Khadijah Cisse, a midwife who founded Milkshare, had this to say in an email to NBC News:
“A blatant attack on women attempting to feed their babies is cruel and you should feel ashamed of yourself for spreading misinformation. Anyone can type up any bit of lies they want and make claims. Breast milk is supposed to contain bacteria.”
Indeed.
One of the major benefits of unpasteurized breastmilk is the bacteria contained which encourages robust development of the infant immune system. Pasteurized breastmilk from commercial milk banks destroys much of the benefits.
Could the lack of complete understanding of the amazing properties of human breastmilk be to blame for the disconnection between the study’s findings and the actual results of breastmilk exchange which have produced no illnesses?
It is also important to note that the researchers only obtained samples from classified ads, not non-commercial milk sharing sites. Emma Kwansica, founder of the sharing site Human Milk 4 Human Babies, says that the women her site connects aren’t strangers engaging in commerce. She said:
Peer-to-peer milk-sharing is really about families sharing at a hyper-local level. This study could not have been more opposite of what our moms are doing in the world today. If there are babies getting sick from milk sharing, I would know. There are no sick babies.
FDA and Academy of Pediatrics Warns Against Breast Milk Sharing
The ever germaphobic Food and Drug Administration and the American Academy of Pediatrics both warn women not to feed babies breastmilk obtained via the Internet or even directly from individuals in their community.
Kim Updegrove, president of Human Milk Banking Association of North America says, “I long to have people view this the way that they view blood products” as breast milk can transmit infections like HIV and tuberculosis.
Her organization represents a network of a dozen commercial milk banks in the U.S. and Canada that supplies pasteurized donor milk to premature and medically fragile babies through medical prescriptions only due to scarce supply.
Updegrove says that commercial formula, though not ideal, is a better option than potentially unscreened breast milk from a stranger. “While it’s certainly not ideal, if you have a healthy, full-term infant, that infant is likely to do just fine on formula.” she said.
And there you have it folks: the blatant plug for commercial formula we were all waiting for with the release of this study by the conventional media.
GMO commercial formula versus breastmilk sharing where not a single case of infant illness has been reported? I’ll take my chances on Mother Nature and breastmilk, thank you very much.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source:
Much breast milk bought online is contaminated, analysis shows
Do you know, I’d come across mention of pasteurised breast milk on US sites before and I thought it was some sort of a bizarre joke. As others have said – the whole point is that breast milk contains bacteria, even straight from the breast its going to contain all sorts of things, filtered by the mother’s/donor’s own constitution, and that’s the whole point. Where on earth did the idea of pasteurising breastmilk originate?
I think its great that breastfeeding is making a comeback and we should encourage each other to do it. i have fed all my children and i fed a couple of other children in our extended family.
Muslims have been taught by our prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings of God be upon him and all the prophets) that 5 full breastfeeds before the age of 2 years makes the child you are feeding a foster baby to the feeder and a foster sibling to your children and any other children you have breastfed. (it doesnt mean you are taking away from the parents or anything, only that you are all extending your family)
it was a very common practice to feed children other than ones own and to have others feed your own baby too in Arabia, but they kept strict records of who was fed by whom.
In Islam a foster sibling is like a brother or sister so you can not marry your foster sibling.
I only mention this info to let people know, perhaps some years from now science or scientific studies will find out a reason for it perhaps not. There are many things mentioned in the quran that science has now shown to be true.
It is best to know who you get your milk from.
For muslims this is a blessing. this way my daughter has extra mahrems. a mahrem is a relative whom you can not marry and do not have to veil in front of. so for example a brother, uncle (ie mother or father brother) grandfater, nephew etc etc
I just thought i would share this info. someone might find it useful.
this is not to cause offense or argument
just sharing info.
thanks
Umm Maryam
Hi Umm Maryam
That was really interesting, thanks for sharing 🙂 I lived in the Middle East for 5 years and, having never had the opportunity to get close to locals, had no idea.
Thanks 🙂
Many people do not take into the account cultural or religious practices when advocating this. Muslims must know who the donor and where the milk comes from. I would take the chance with commercial formula over unscreened donor milk. I know that store formula is not the best option, but neither is my child getting HIV. However,I think this is a good situation to promote homemade formula, as that would be my first choice.
One major red flag with this study is that they were forbidden to form any kind of relationship with the donor or even talk about an imaginary infant recipient. If they were asked those kind of questions, they ditched that donor and tried another. So the very nature of the study eliminated many safeguards that moms would naturally insist on, and they made themselves look like creepy milk fetishists, so no wonder they got milk that had been handled casually!
if its pasturized its pretty much useless isnt it?
It would still be better than commercial formula but yes, much of the benefit would have been lost.
Has there been a study of breast milk that is not being sold or donated? You know, milk that is going straight into your own baby’s mouth. I wonder if it is similarly contaminated.
That is an excellent question and a study that needs to be done. Perhaps there is a level of pathogenic activity naturally contained in breastmilk in order to prime the baby’s immune system? Sounds crazy but Mother Nature has her ways!
We don’t sterilize our nipples before feeding our babies do we!! I bet it does contain all sorts of things!
Sarah, check out this article by Sally Fallon Morell from December 2012. It is definitely pertinent to this discussion and you can spread the word better than I can. It discusses different studies that have shown that breast milk has varying levels of ‘contamination’ (depending on the ‘source,’ aka, mother) but that the milk also has factors that can inhibit early stages of bacterial replication and thus help the infant resist infection by camphylobacter, streptococcus, enteropathogenic E. coli, rotavirus and perhaps even HIV.
There was even a study in India that found that unpasteurized breast milk was more protective from infection to high-risk newborns than pasteurized breast milk. Combination feeding (formula + breast milk) was also tested, and exclusive breast milk, pasteurized or not, was more beneficial than combination feeding.
http://www.realmilk.com/safety/is-mothers-milk-sterile/
I agree with you Suzanne. We brought a sick foster baby home after doing NICU visits for five weeks because she wasn’t eating well. There was no medical reason they could see for the poor eating. We had a biological four month old I was breastfeeding. I wanted to pump for our foster baby so badly but was told no because it was an “untested body fluid”. When we finally brought her home I received the ok to nurse her (it was supposed to change into an adoption). By then she refused the breast outright but I pumped and pumped. Surprise, she took the breast milk like a champion! I am still floored by how frustrating it all was and how the hospital staff almost all made me feel like a crazy person for wanting to give my human milk to a sick human baby who needed it. They even had the evidence of my super healthy and happy little four month old. Every day they could see her smiling and looking through the glass while my husband and I desperately tried to get the sick baby to eat her formula!
Know Thy Farmer, Know Thy Boob. 🙂 If I wouldn’t eat raw eggs or raw milk from an unknown source, why would I give my child raw breastmilk from an unknown source? My family drinks raw cow and goat milk, but I’ve met the farmers and trust them. If I was ever in a situation where I needed to feed my children raw breastmilk, I would find someone I trust and watch their milking process the same as I do with my food farmers.
yup something about the way God planned it. hook on. or let someone else hook them on if you can’t for some reason. wet nurse. use bank only in a pinch. at lest know the person you are getting it from.course in most cases its far better then the junk the stores sell!!!
This makes me so sad. I donated 7,000 oz of milk that I pumped while my daughter was in the NICU (yes I had oversupply issues!) eventually my daughter transitioned to exclusively breastfeeding and no longer needed milk through her feeding tube so I was thrilled to have to opportunity to bless other babies with our breastmilk (donated, never recieved any compensation!) I went through a local Facebook group to offer my milk. I worked diligently to thoroughly clean and sanitize all pump parts and immediately stored them in my deep freezer. I hate to think this type of sharing will be less common.
Thank you for being so selfless. Thank you for being so generous to other mother’s who would have otherwise had to use formula.
I noticed they closed the comments. Of course it’s “contaminated”. They compared milk sharing milk to PASTEURIZED donor milk. That “contamination” is probably is why breast fed babies are healthier. They actually have bacteria in the milk, they didn’t talk about intact antibodies that was there with the bacteria. What a simple minded article.
They also analzyzed the milk bank milk *before* it was pastuerized. It was still less ‘contaminated’ than the milk sharing milk.
I receive donor milk through Human Milk 4 Human Babies and my little girl is doing fabulous. The ladies I have met are amazing moms and I’m so thankful for the extra time they spend pumping for my little one. Since I started giving her donor milk I have not had to use any formula.
Have you seen recent lab reports that these ladies are drug and disease free?