USA Today

Use of mother’s milk banks, milk-sharing skyrockets:

I don’t know why some people always want to “stick their finger in the flame”?

There have been billions of kids raised on formula milk without any complications.

How closely are these donating mothers tested for some sort of diseases or genetically malfunction; especially with all of the misuse of drugs etc.? How many kids are going to develop long range difficulties from someone else’s mothers’ milk? No one knows.

The more the demand for the milk, the more lax these milk banks will get and the more potential problems may arise. How sanitary are they? The all look good in pictures.

I say if a mother chooses to and are able to breast feed, that is her choice but to buy banked breast milk without knowing who the donor/seller is, that is taboo.

Here is a comparison from WebMd on breast feeding opposed to bottle feeding.

Breastfeeding Baby

Breast milk is the perfect food for baby, with numerous advantages over baby formula, especially in the first four months or so. Here’s why:
• It’s always available.
• It’s free.
• It contains active infection-fighting white blood cells and natural chemicals that give increased protection against infections in the first months, when these can be the most serious.
• It can help prevent SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
• It contains the perfect proportion of nutrients that your baby needs, including protein, carbohydrates, fat, and calcium.
• It is easily digestible.
• It may protect against allergies and asthma in the future.
• It may decrease a baby’s risk of obesity in the future.
• It may contain some fatty acids that promote brain development.
• Breastfeeding can help new mothers lose weight more easily.
Additionally, there probably are other beneficial components of breast milk that we are not aware of and so are not added to formula.

Bottle Feeding Baby

With all these advantages of breast milk, should you feel guilty if you choose not to breastfeed? Absolutely not!

• Infant formulas have gotten better and better at matching the ingredients and their proportions to that of human milk.
• While breastfed babies may have relatively fewer infections, the vast majority of infants won’t get a serious infection in the first months whether breast- or bottle fed.

A happy, unstressed mother is the best mother. If you feel that bottle feeding best fits your needs, then it’s the best for meeting your baby’s needs as well.

I don’t know if there have been any studies on, let’s call it “second hand milk” yet but my contention has always been; “Don’t mess with Mother Nature; she always wins”.