Posted on 03/12/2007 2:07:12 PM PDT by lastchance
S. Florida mothers send breast milk overseas to help keep babies HIV-free
By Tim Collie South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 12, 2007
After finally accepting that her son had a protein allergy that kept him from taking her breast milk, Ruth Weinberger faced another issue: What to do with the three months' supply in her freezer?
She knew that the vitamins and nutrients in breast milk boost a baby's immune system. So the Broward County mother began searching for a place to donate it.
In Europe and her native South Africa, human milk is banked to feed orphans and premature babies whose mothers may either be too sick or cannot produce milk to feed them. But clinics in South Florida wouldn't accept it.
... Milk banking is not new. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, milk banks were established in Chicago and other cities as social workers grappled with massive poverty and malnutrition. If infants couldn't nurse from their mothers, alternatives for the poor were few, and cities had rising levels of infant mortality.
Staff Writer Tim Collie can be reached at 954-356-4573 or at tcollie@sun-sentinel.com
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
HOW TO DONATE
The International Breast Milk Project provides donated breast milk and money for milk bank development to programs in Africa for children who have been orphaned by HIV. To contact the group, go to www.breast milkproject.org or call 507-261-3221.
The Miami Milk Bank is operated by the Miami Maternity Center. The milk is used in U.S. hospitals for premature babies. To contact the bank, go to www.miami birth.com or call 305-754-2229.
Good idea. A little hassle, but that pales in comparison to how it could save a life.
But there's no mention of the milk being tested for drugs or alcohol or newly acquired diseases. While it might be a good idea, I can see problems with it if each container isn't tested for a variety of components.
A literal version of "the milk of human kindness".
I wonder if I could set up a little milking machine business doing this..
I would do it for free too!
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