Breast Milk For Sale? I don't think so!
by Kate Kahn - 04th November 2007
There’s a woman in Iowa who’s caught between a rock and a hard place so to speak. Martha Heller is a new mom. She’s been breast feeding and pumping but now her 4-month-old daughter has decided bottled breast milk isn’t for her.
So now Martha donates to the Milk Bank of Iowa---good cause. To donate to a milk bank you have to go through screening. If you’re accepted, your donated milk gets pasteurized (which kills bacteria and viruses) before being distributed. Screening is critical. There are a lot of diseases that can be passed through breast milk.
But here’s Martha’s dilemma. She has 100 ounces of breast milk she pumped and froze before getting screened to donate. What’s a new mom to do? She wants to sell it for $200 or best offer.
As a mother who pumped, I get where she’s coming from. No one wants to toss hard-earned ounces! The very thought makes me want to cry. But, sadly, I don’t think she has an option. Before being screened, and at various points during the first few months of breastfeeding, she took Tylenol and an antibiotic. Even if she hadn't, the bottom line is that she hadn't been screened when she pumped that precious 100 ounces.
Taking unscreened breast milk is like the Red Cross accepting blood from someone who hasn’t gone through the filtering process. You just don’t want to go there. So Martha, it’s time to hang it up. I feel your pain but it’s better to be safe than sorry!
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