Tuesday's Controversy- Breast Milk Online
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I tried to get this article linked for you all but you'll have to wait until next week or go buy this week's People Magazine. I don't normally buy the trash mags simply because I don't care about the Stars' lives, who doing whom or where Tom Cruise will spend his summer. I think they are people who, although, are in the lime light for the majority of their lives and have chosen to do as such, need their privacy.
I was, however, thumbing through this particular people because Garth and Trisha were on the cover and I like them. I found this article entitled "Breast milk is now available online. But is it good for baby?" Hum. Sold.
Jenn Connel, of Wilton, N.H. is a breast cancer survivor. She wanted children but a few years ago she had to have a double mastectomy, hence unable to breast feed. After her first son was born she started www.feedmybaby.com and appealed to other moms. She has two boys, 5 months and 17 months old.
She had a huge response and after many questionnaires and health checks she was able to breast feed both her children.
The article states that "thanks parents like Connel, who, for reasons ranging from adoption to illness to single fatherhood, can't satisfy the needs of their own families. With mounting evidence that mother's milk during the first year of life provides children with a host of benefits including immunities to many illnesses, some parents who can't naturally provide it are turning to relatives, friends and the Internet to obtain milk, for free or for a price. In the face of skeptics, they like to point out that wet nurses existed long before formula was invented." But donated milk poses risks of carrying diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.
You can buy your milk online from one of 8 established milk banks in the U.S. But Most milk goes for $3.00 an ounce which puts you at approximately $15,000 for a six month supply if your baby averages 28 oz. a day. Probably the safest option by my standards.
BUT....what about genetics? Immune systems are different for different people. Wouldn't breast milk immunities apply here too? It makes perfect sense to have milk donated for these reasons, but from a relative and not Joe Donator who happens to produce butt-loads of milk that may otherwise be wasted. I love the idea, but the risks out weigh the benefits for me. Vicki also brought up a good argument for genetics and disease...you can read that here if you wish. My question to you is pretend you were in any one of these extreme situations..what would you do? Would you risk the health of your baby to give them the supposed health benefits of breast milk?
As always, please feel free to express your opinions, but be nice. Thanks..violators will be towed at their own expense.
Note: I breast fed both my boys...J-man had chronic ear infections, J-man #2 catches everything his brother brings home or at the gym nursery. They are both relatively healthy and by no means "sickly". I was not a breast fed baby and have never had more than a cold, except for Bronchitis when I was younger.
I was, however, thumbing through this particular people because Garth and Trisha were on the cover and I like them. I found this article entitled "Breast milk is now available online. But is it good for baby?" Hum. Sold.
Jenn Connel, of Wilton, N.H. is a breast cancer survivor. She wanted children but a few years ago she had to have a double mastectomy, hence unable to breast feed. After her first son was born she started www.feedmybaby.com and appealed to other moms. She has two boys, 5 months and 17 months old.
She had a huge response and after many questionnaires and health checks she was able to breast feed both her children.
The article states that "thanks parents like Connel, who, for reasons ranging from adoption to illness to single fatherhood, can't satisfy the needs of their own families. With mounting evidence that mother's milk during the first year of life provides children with a host of benefits including immunities to many illnesses, some parents who can't naturally provide it are turning to relatives, friends and the Internet to obtain milk, for free or for a price. In the face of skeptics, they like to point out that wet nurses existed long before formula was invented." But donated milk poses risks of carrying diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.
You can buy your milk online from one of 8 established milk banks in the U.S. But Most milk goes for $3.00 an ounce which puts you at approximately $15,000 for a six month supply if your baby averages 28 oz. a day. Probably the safest option by my standards.
BUT....what about genetics? Immune systems are different for different people. Wouldn't breast milk immunities apply here too? It makes perfect sense to have milk donated for these reasons, but from a relative and not Joe Donator who happens to produce butt-loads of milk that may otherwise be wasted. I love the idea, but the risks out weigh the benefits for me. Vicki also brought up a good argument for genetics and disease...you can read that here if you wish. My question to you is pretend you were in any one of these extreme situations..what would you do? Would you risk the health of your baby to give them the supposed health benefits of breast milk?
As always, please feel free to express your opinions, but be nice. Thanks..violators will be towed at their own expense.
Note: I breast fed both my boys...J-man had chronic ear infections, J-man #2 catches everything his brother brings home or at the gym nursery. They are both relatively healthy and by no means "sickly". I was not a breast fed baby and have never had more than a cold, except for Bronchitis when I was younger.
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