Buy Human Breast Milk
In order to obtain a long term supply of donor milk we ask that you contact your doctor to discuss writing a prescription for donor milk. We have our very own prescription form and do not accept notepad prescriptions.
buy human breast milk
Top athletes are always looking for an edge over their competition. Occasionally, this drive will lead them to take extreme, dangerous or even illegal steps to gain that edge. And one of the latest trends to gain an advantage? Human breast milk.
Human breast milk is always in demand. It can be vital for premature babies to receive milk instead of formula. Less than half of mothers with premature babies can provide the milk needed for their babies to provide nutrients, immune and growth-promoting components.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the screening of milk donors has become more rigorous. This has made keeping a sufficient supply of donor milk even more difficult. Adults using human milk potentially diminish the donor supply from milk banks and take away milk from the premature babies that need it most.
The benefits of breastfeeding are well established, and breastfeeding is strongly recommended by healthcare professionals and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Information on breastfeeding can be found at:
When human milk is obtained directly from individuals or through the Internet, the donor is unlikely to have been adequately screened for infectious disease or contamination risk. In addition, it is not likely that the human milk has been collected, processed, tested or stored in a way that reduces possible safety risks to the baby.
There are human milk banks that take voluntary steps to screen milk donors, and safely collect, process, handle, test, and store the milk. In a few states, there are required safety standards for such milk banks. FDA has not been involved in establishing these voluntary guidelines or state standards.
Breast milk is especially important for premature babies and babies who are not well. Moms who have trouble providing breast milk to their babies, particularly in these situations, can seek the next best alternative: another mom's milk that was donated and pasteurized by an accredited milk bank.
It is important to note that though donor milk is the best alternative for feeding newborns, it does not have all the same benefits of breastfeeding using mothers' own milk. This is because breast milk changes every day to meet the changing needs of your baby. Preterm milk differs from term newborn milk, and that is different from the milk of a mom whose baby is 3 months old, 6 months old, 12 months old, or weaning.
Receiving donor milk means you may not be getting milk from a mom whose baby is the exact same age as yours. And, because donor milk is pasteurized for safety, some of the protective factors become lost.
Safely buying breast milk is possible. The best way is to go through your doctor and have them refer you to an accredited milk bank. When donor human milk is distributed by milk banks, this is typically referred to as "formal milk sharing". If breast milk is not readily supplied by a mother, a hospital can order pasteurized human donor milk (PHDM) from a Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) certified milk bank.
Milk banks typically prioritize their supply of donor breast milk for Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) in hospitals or for use at home by mothers who cannot produce their own milk for any number of health reasons. If you live in the U.S. or Canada, make sure the milk bank you work with is certified by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.
Some moms give their excess breast milk to parents of babies in need, in an exchange commonly known as informal or casual sharing. Informal, mom-to-mom milk sharing is done within the community - through websites and social media groups dedicated to milk sharing, through families assisting with milk sharing, or via social media connections.
Buying and selling breast milk informally carries a lot more risk because it's not regulated. This means that there's no way to know if the milk you're buying contains infectious diseases or toxins that could harm your baby. If the breast milk you buy was improperly stored, you may end up unintentionally feeding your little one milk that has gone bad or has germs or bacteria.
Although the practice is not regulated, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Food and Drug Administration recommend selling your breast milk to a milk bank. You can also donate milk to the HMBANA or the National Milk Bank. These organizations will require a screening process to ensure your milk can be distributed to parents and babies in need.
Medela, along with the AAP and ABM, recommends that mamas who have trouble breastfeeding get lactation support and consult with their healthcare providers to decide upon the best course of action for their unique breastfeeding situations. Don't forget to seek out donor human milk only from HMBANA-accredited milk banks if and when you opt to receive donor breast milk!
Our 31 members help mothers donate their extra breast milk for use by fragile infants as medicine. Our efforts ensure that the process is evidence-based and clinically sound. Together, we advocate for donor milk as a universal standard of care, regardless of the ability to pay. Donate or receive milk.
A premature baby in the NICU may eat as little as one ounce or less in a single feeding. Whether you are a past recipient, donor, or otherwise have a story about donor milk to tell, you can help champion nonprofit milk banking. Together we can make a difference.
The study, published online today and in the November issue of Pediatrics, is the first to examine the safety of selling breast milk to others over the Internet, a trend that has become more frequent in the past several years. It is unknown exactly how common purchasing breast milk online is, but an earlier study cited 13,000 postings were placed on U.S. milk sharing websites in 2011.
Individuals posted classified ads on websites describing the breast milk they wanted to sell or why they were seeking breast milk. Researchers responded to ads from sellers who did not ask about the infant receiving milk and who did not require a phone call before a transaction was made.
Researchers analyzed 101 samples bought online and compared the findings to 20 samples obtained from a milk bank. In the U.S., twelve non-profit milk banks follow the Human Milk Banking Association of North America guidelines and provide pasteurized milk from carefully screened donors to fragile and sick infants. Because the milk banks pasteurize their milk, harmful bacteria are killed before the milk reaches an infant, unlike milk purchased online. Even before pasteurization, the milk bank samples were less likely to contain several types of bacteria and had lower bacterial growth in many instances.
Shipping practices also played a role in the levels of bacteria in the milk purchased online. The longer the shipping time, the more contaminated the milk. Nineteen percent of sellers did not include dry ice or another cooling method, and the temperature of the milk was outside of recommended range for storage. Researchers found particularly high levels of one or more types of bacteria in 17 percent of the samples.
According to Dr. Keim, it is difficult to know if a particular infant would be sickened by consuming any given bottle of milk, but the types of bacteria found in the online samples contained bacteria that could cause illnesses known to be linked to contaminated breast milk.
Milk banks are a safer alternative for breast milk for sick babies if the mother cannot provide milk because donors receive proper instructions and the milk is pasteurized, limiting the risk of bacterial illness, said Dr. Keim. Human breast milk can help strengthen the immune system and has been shown to protect against severe illnesses like necrotizing enterocolitis, a potentially deadly condition affecting thousands of infants each year.
Dr. Keim said women who have extra milk should consider donating it to a milk bank where the milk can be handled properly and they will ensure it goes to a baby who badly needs it, rather than selling it. Milk sold online and contaminated with bacteria that causes illness can be particularly harmful for premature infants or those with weakened immune systems, who are already particularly susceptible to infection.
Note: Children younger than 6 months old should only drink breast milk or infant formula. Talk with your pediatrcian or other health care provider if you are having difficulty breastfeeding or finding infant formula.
Most babies will do just fine with different brands of formula, including store brands, as long as they're the same type, like cow's milk-based, soy, hypoallergenic (extensively hydrolyzed), or elemental (amino acid-based). Keep in mind that your baby may seem to not like the taste, or may have a hard time tolerating a different formula, initially. If this happens:
Breast milk is the perfect nutrition for infants, a result of millions of years of evolution, finely attuning it to the requirements of the infant. Breast milk contains many complex proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, the concentrations of which alter dramatically over a single feed, as well as over lactation, to reflect the infant's needs. In addition to providing a source of nutrition for infants, breast milk contains a myriad of biologically active components. These molecules possess diverse roles, both guiding the development of the infants immune system and intestinal microbiota. Orchestrating the development of the microbiota are the human milk oligosaccharides, the synthesis of which are determined by the maternal genotype. In this review, we discuss the composition of breast milk and the factors that affect it during the course of breast feeding. Understanding the components of breast milk and their functions will allow for the improvement of clinical practices, infant feeding and our understanding of immune responses to infection and vaccination in infants. 041b061a72