Milk Bank Donation Guidelines

A lot of breastfeeding moms are asking how they can help moms in stricken countries by donating milk. Here is some info about donating to the Denver Milk Bank, as well as a map of Milk Bank locations nationwide.

"Donor milk meant the difference between life and death for my baby. Lacey would not have made it without it." -Recipient Mother

The Mothers’ Milk Bank screens, collects, processes and dispenses donated human milk as a community service, providing human milk to babies whose own mothers cannot supply the milk to meet their baby’s needs.

Human milk is a miracle. It is one that can and should be shared. The components of milk are unmatched by any commercial formula: immune properties, growth factors, hormones, enzymes and many other factors that optimize the health of infants are present.

Donor Requirements:

• In good health. English-speaking.
• Non-smoker. No use of any Nicotine products.
• Negative blood test for viruses (Prenatal results are NOT used).
• Using no medications during the time milk is collected for donation, except for: vitamins and minerals; food supplements, progestin-only birth control, or replacement hormones: insulin, thyroid
• Limited use of caffeine; and a waiting period is required after alcohol use before donating milk
• Willing to donate a minimum of 150 ounces total during the time they are a donor
• Medical release forms signed by mothers' and baby's doctors (formed supplied by Milk Bank)

Collecting and Storing Milk:

• Some mothers already have milk collected; others begin to collect milk after contacting the Milk Bank
• Previously collected milk can be accepted if: Mother took no medications or herbs during the period when milk was collected, and if Mother and baby had no illnesses during the period when milk was collected.
• Donors preferably collect and freeze milk using the containers provided by the Mothers' Milk Bank, or in other clean milk storage containers
• Milk must reach the MMB before the milk is about 5 months old

Blood Testing:

• All donors have a small amount of blood drawn and centrifuged either at the Milk Bank depot, or at a physician's office if you live outside the Denver area. (Tubes are supplied by the Milk Bank).
• Your physician or midwife may be able to do this for at no charge.
• The blood sample and serum are sent to Denver for testing, (a 'blood donor panel') which includes: HIV I/II (AIDS), HTLV-I/II (Human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus, a retrovirus), Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Syphilis
• The Mothers' Milk Bank pays to have blood shipped to the bank and for all required testing
• You will be notified of the results. Blood testing is required only at onset of donating.

Transporting Milk:

• Local: Donors bring their frozen milk to the Milk Bank, or staff members pick it up from the donor
• Several hospitals serve as Milk Bank depots - individual arrangements will be made
• Out of the area: The Milk Bank provides a special insulated shipping box, and a pre-paid sticker for shipping the frozen milk and blood overnight to the Milk Bank. The donor will purchase dry ice (typical cost is about $5) for each box of milk.
• For shipped milk, a minimum of 150 ounces at a time is requested.

For more information on milk donation, please call the Denver Mothers' Milk Bank at (303) 869-1888, or toll free at (877) 458-5503. We thank you, and the babies thank you!

A note on the main page says that any donated milk will not go to Haiti, since there is currently no capability in that country to ensure the "safety" and integrity of the milk. That is, it may spoil before use and the infastructure is not in place to handle these shipments.

Christmas Nursing Rhyme

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house every creature was breastfeeding even the mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and mama’s nursing bra added a pair.


The babes were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of mom’s bosom kept them well fed. And Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap, had just settled down for a long winter’s nap.


When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.


The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave a luster of midday to objects below. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, with a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew he’d been breastfed and never been sick.


More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, and he whistled and shouted and called them by name: “Now Hearty! Now Healthy! Now Intimate and Caring! On Easy! On Cost free! On Safety and Sharing! To the top of the choices, to first in your class! Now dash away breast milk substitutes which are ever so crass!”


As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, so up to the heights these coursers did bring breastfeeding preference and made it a thing. And then in a twinkling I heard on the roof the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney Saint Nicholas came with a bound.


He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. A bundle of toys he had flung on his back to distribute to children without colic hack. His eyes - how they twinkled! His dimples - How merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, aspects all showing he’d breastfed long ago!


The sump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, but he did not smoke it, much to my relief. He had a broad face and a little round tummy like a breastfed babe fresh from his mummy. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, he never tasted substitute from a store shelf. A wink of his eye and a twist of his head soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.


He spoke not a word but went straight to his hob and filled all the stockings for our breastfeeding mob, and laying a finger up to his lip, whispered, “Close to the heart surely is hip!”


He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But we heard him exclaim ‘ere he drove out of sight: “To breastfeed is best, to start your child right!”

Breastfeeding and Swine Flue

The CDC has issued guidelines for pregnant/breastfeeding mothers regarding swine flu. I have cut and pasted the breastfeeding portion below.

Most of the document is regarding pregnant women. To read the full document, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/clinician_pregnant.htm

Breastfeeding considerations

Infants who are not breastfeeding are particularly vulnerable to infection and hospitalization for severe respiratory illness. Women who deliver should be encouraged to initiate breastfeeding early and feed frequently. Ideally, babies should receive most of their nutrition from breast milk. Eliminate unnecessary formula supplementation, so the infant can receive as much maternal antibodies as possible.

If a woman is ill, she should continue breastfeeding and increase feeding frequency. If maternal illness prevents safe feeding at the breast, but she can still pump, encourage her to do so. The risk for swine influenza transmission through breast milk is unknown. However, reports of viremia with seasonal influenza infection are rare.

Expressed milk should be used for infants too ill to feed at the breast. In certain situations, infants may be able to use donor human milk from a HMBANA-certified milk bank External Web Site Policy.

Antiviral medication treatment or prophylaxis is not a contraindication for breastfeeding.

Instruct parent and caretakers on how to protect their infant from the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like H1N1 (swine flu):

* Wash adults’ and infants’ hands frequently with soap and water, especially after infants place their hands in their mouths.
* Keep infants and mothers as close together as possible and encourage early and frequent skin-to-skin contact between mothers and their infants.
* Limit sharing of toys and other items that have been in infants' mouths. Wash thoroughly with soap and water any items that have been in infants' mouths.
* Keep pacifiers (including the pacifier ring/handle) and other items out of adults' or other infants' mouths prior to giving to the infant.
* Practice cough and sneeze etiquette.

A Culture of Acceptance

When breastfeeding is accepted, it won't be noticed.

Check out this article from the Marin County, CA group, The Marin Breastfeeding Coalition.

No, that's not a real woman - it's a life sized poster cut out of a nursing mom to promote the acceptance of breastfeeding as natural and normal rather than a misuse of a sexual "toy".

Lactation is NOT a dirty word.

Visit the article for more stunning photos and the whole scoop.

Unexpected Benefit of Breastfeeding

Bet you didn't know THIS:

With triple bypass surgery doctors usually use a blood vessel from the leg for "spare parts".

Another option is a healthy mammary blood vessel. Nursing may strengthen and enhance mammary blood vessels making them useful as "spare body parts' many years later. In bypass surgery, the mammary vessel has a life expectancy of ten-plus years while a leg vessel has a life expectancy of five-plus years.

Wow. New use for the "girlies" after the hard work is done.



source: The Gem Sunshine LLL area newsletter

So Blase about it

When baby BB starts to fuss, The Boy nonchalantly tells me "Oh mom, give him num nums" because he knows that this will make it all better.

What better advertisement for breastfeeding is there?

Nursing in Public

The letter I wrote the principal of the kids' school will explain it all. Don't be rude asking ME to not nurse in public! (finger snaps)

Mrs Axxxx -

I volunteer my time at WXXX because I feel it's important to be involved with my childrens' school. I contribute time as a member of the PTA, heading up Box Tops and Campbell's Labels programs, teaching home ec and copying for teachers.

When I was at school Tuesday afternoon, it became necessary for me to feed my infant son. Since I'm a breastfeeding mom, I make an effort to be sensitive to the sensibilities of others.

To that end, I opted to feed my 8 week old son using a baby sling which fully covers me. To this I added a blanket to cover my stomach. No portion of my chest was exposed.

When you approached me insisting that I must be fully covered, I was bewildered as all the sensitive areas were concealed. I was unaware that not only was a few inches of my back showing, but also that those two inches were titillating to anyone, especially since school was not in session and I was in a non-public room, alone.

There were better, more tactful and less confrontational ways for you to ask me to pull down my shirt in the back.

I'm afraid that I will be unable to continue in any volunteer capacity until an apology is issued. Also, as we are unacquainted, please refer to me as Mrs Cxxx.

Thank you.

Advantages of Breastfeeding

Students in an advanced Biology class were taking their mid-term exam.
The last question was: "Name seven advantages of "Mothers Milk." Worth
70 points or none at all.

One student, who had partied late the night before, was frustrated to
think of seven advantages.


He wrote:

1. It is perfect formula for the child.
2. It provides immunity against several diseases.
3. It is always at the right temperature.
4. It is inexpensive.
5. It bonds the child to mother, and vice versa.

6. It is always available as needed.


And then, the student was stuck. Finally, in desperation, just before
the bell rang, indicating the end of the test, he wrote:


7. It comes in such cute containers.


He got an "A".

Yeah, tha's how it was...

Annual Garage Sale

Annual Garage Sale to benefit La Leche League and Breastfeeding moms in Idaho!

Set up is tomorrow and the sale is bright and early on Saturday. Gonna have lots of good stuff. Hope it doesn't rain. Can ya make it?

(grin)

Don't forget that you can support breastfeeding and La Leche League in your own town by visiting LLLi.org or patronizing the World Breastfeeding Week Celebrations this summer.

World Breastfeeding Week

Mother Support: Going for the Gold

May 1 - September 30, 2008

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is August 1st - 7th and celebrates the signing of the Innocenti Declaration, produced and adopted in 1990 by participants at the WHO/UNICEF meeting on "Breastfeeding in the 1990s: A Global Initiative on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding." The document lists the benefits of breastfeeding, plus global and governmental goals. World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated in 120 countries on various dates.

This year we focus on supporting women in their efforts to do what is most important for the health and survival of their children through the best and most cost-effective intervention: early and exclusive breastfeeding.

You can "go for the gold" when you --

• give a mother the phone number of an LLL Leader.
• tell a first-time breastfeeding mother she is doing just fine.
• bring the new mother a nutrious snack and a big glass of water.
• as an employer, accommodate a mother's need to pump with a private comfortable space.
• as the baby's father, intercede with family and friends so that mother and baby can feel confident
• write to legislators to support the enactment of laws supporting paid maternity leave and mother-friendly workplaces.
• contact an emergency relief organization and request training to help in emergency situations, especially in breastfeeding support.
• take care of your health and nutritional needs during pregnancy and lactation.
• set up or join a network of lactation experts in your community.
• provide transportation to a mother to attend an LLL meeting or visit a lactation consultant.
• advocate for legislation that enacts the provisions of the WHO/UNICEF Code of Marketing.
• ask for support and offer support to others.

Join with us in supporting WBWC 2008 and in creating optimal conditions for mother support in all Circles of Support: Family and Social Network, Healthcare, Workplace and Employment, Government and Legislation and Response to Crisis or Emergency.

OBJECTIVES OF WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK CELEBRATIONS 2008 --

• To raise funds for La Leche League in the USA, with emphasis on local communities and the LLL Breastfeeding Helpline.
• To raise awareness that breastfeeding is the Gold Standard for Infant Feeding, that La Leche League Leaders and Groups offer breastfeeding information and support and that the lack of breastfeeding affects the child, mother, community and health care system.

And don't forget Dad on his special day! Need some kid friendly ideas? Try this: Cool Father's Day Crafts from Creative Homemaking.

Breastfeeding Friday

No, you don't have to actually be breastfeeding to participate, but here's a recipe that is reputed to help boost milk production in lactating moms. Oatmeal does it for me and this "Lactation Bar" is awesome!

Oatmeal Lactation Breakfast Bars

2 c. butter, Crisco, or margarine (can mix and match to equal 2 c.)
1 c. granulated sugar
2 c. packed brown sugar
4 eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. wheat germ
1/4 c. brewer's yeast or nutritional yeast powder
1/4 c. flax meal (or whole flaxseed milled fine in a coffee grinder)
4 c. oatmeal (old fashioned, or as thick-cut as you can find)
1 bag mini semi sweet chocolate chips
1 c. nuts (optional)


Cream butter and sugars well, then add eggs and vanilla and beat until well incorporated.

Mix all dry ingredients except for oats in separate bowl, then add all at once and stir in as well as possible by hand before mixing with beaters until smooth. Add oats and chips (and nuts, if desired), and stir until well blended.

Divide dough into five parts and line a 10 x 7 cookie sheet (with shallow sides, like a jellyroll pan) with foil, then spray foil with nonstick spray. Spread 1/5 of the dough into the foil-lined pan and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

When done, simply lift out the bars by the foil and place another piece of foil into the pan and spray for the next batch. Allow to cool at least slightly before cutting each pan of bars into eighths.

Makes 40 bars.

Do you have any tried and true ideas for helping a breastfeeding mom? As a La Leche League Leader, I'm always interested in the experiences of new moms. So come on, open up, break it out, share with ME!

Stems Cells in Breast Milk

This article is the most awesome thing I've read on the internet in a while! I'm no scientist and don't know what is viable for research or how things like that work, but I do find this information highly intriguing. Imagine that this source of stem cells is available without killing babies!!

Here's a quote:

[W]hat Dr Mark Cregan is excited about right now is the promise that his discovery could be the start of many more exciting revelations about the potency of breast milk.

He believes that it not only meets all the nutritional needs of a growing infant but contains key markers that guide his or her development into adulthood.

“We already know how breast milk provides for the baby’s nutritional needs, but we are only just beginning to understand that it probably performs many other functions,” says Dr Cregan, a molecular biologist at The University of Western Australia.

I've been saying it for a long time. Breast milk is SUPER FOOD! It gives me superpowers, I think - WAIT!! I need a superhero name now! Super Mom? Wonder Mom? Milk Machine Wonderific?

As an accredited La Leche League leader, I can tell you that any amount of breastfeeding, even just ONCE, is of more value to your baby than none at all.

See more of this article at ScienceAlert.com

Big Bird on Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding on TV by an infant - when is the last time you saw THAT?!

Or is that Advocate?

You all know that I'm a proud supporter of breastfeeding and La Leche League. Women should be allowed to breastfeed as long as they like without criticism. Okay, I guess I'd advocate that somewhere between 3 and 5 it gets creepy, but hey! to each his own. (By the way, the median age for weaning worldwide is 5. Yup.)

Well, tonight something got my hackles up. Might say it turned me into a breastfeeding Nazi! (Many people seem to believe that all members of LLL are hairy, granola crunching, hippie Nazis that force women to breastfeed forever. Not. True. Except I'm a bit on the hairy side. Can't help that! And granola hurts my teeth.)

SuperNanny.

Did anyone else watch this show tonight? I happened to flip it on (and I never watch TV, so it's odd...) and there is the SuperNanny telling a mom of a 14 month old to quit breastfeeding because it's only for mom's emotional attachment, nothing else.

What?

Excuse me?

Wish I could have been there to enlighten the SuckNanny and support the mom. Because, you know, she did decide to wean. And weaning under pressure is not a good thing. Personally (for the 2 cents that's worth - self addressed stamped envelopes only, please) I believe that the child should lead the weaning process.

A 14 month old is not a small adult with the cunning and wiles to manipulate her mother. The emotional attachment is NOT one sided. The 14 month old is still a baby who needs that closeness in her world. She doesn't even realize yet that she and mommy are not the same person!

Granted, I like some of the stuff she says about discipline and family togetherness, but breastfeeding advice? Stay away, Jo Frost. I read her bio and it says she has no children and therefore no breastfeeding experience. How can you offer advice about something that you know NOTHING about? It's like me, offering advice on the best way to grow bananas or pick fleas off your pet monkey! Idiotic!

So, I guess if it makes me an adversary to support the mom, so be it. I'd rather be the advocate and spread the word. It's not wrong, it's nature. God bless mammary glands!

Menu Plan Monday - 5 August to 11 August

Happy Monday! It's a new week and coming to the end of World Breastfeeding Week (Aug 1-7).


I've officially submitted my application to La Leche League to become accredited as a leader this past week. Next Monday (8-13) I get to host the monthly LLL meeting and I'm nervous as a cat! The topic is Questions Mothers Ask and we're doing a Magic 8 Ball format. Wish me luck!

We are also attending a BEST Picnic in the Park this Friday. BEST is Breastfeeding Education and Support Team and has some of the same goals as LLL.

Here's a week's worth of menus for The Home Front. It's pretty simple, but easy. If you'd like to see more MPM, visit Organizing Junkie by clicking on the image below.




Lasagna, salad, homemade breadsticks
Crockpot Meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, green beans
Leftover Chinese food with fresh crab rangoon
Grilling Hamburgers, pasta salad, chips
Homemade Pizza, salad
Swiss Chicken Bake - An Ordinary Mom

Pork Gets Their Chops Chewed by Breastfeeding Supporters

Remember the post just before this one where the National Pork Board thought breast milk and pork meat are so very similar that most American adults would confuse the two?

Breast Milk
Pork

Well, good news, it's in the resolution process. See The Lactivist Breastfeeding Blog for more info. Long story short, the National Pork Board CEO has issued an apology.



After all:

Breasts: Not Just for Selling Cars Anymore...

A Demand on Breastfeeding by The Pork Board?

I am hoping that there are some breastfeeding moms visiting my site. I hope that they are committed to providing their child(ren) the best start in life - Mommy Milk. And even if I'm all alone here, at least I know where I stand on the breastfeeding issue.

So check out this non-sense demand from the National Pork Board to a breastfeeding site called The Lactivist Breastfeeding Blog.

For selling a T shirt.

Really.

Visit and support the movement if you want. If not, no big deal, but I'm going to be over there, writing letters and telling Big Pork to back OFF!

And Yes, that IS Lucy Lawless (Xena, Warrior Princess) feeding her child.

Photo: http://www.lucylawless.info/articles/womenshealth/

Another Blog of Passion

I admit it, I have one more thing (for now) that I'm passionate about and it's rather multi-faceted.

• Breastfeeding for as long as you and baby want
• Drs are not FRIENDS but EMPLOYEES
• Drs DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING!

There. Now that I'm done shouting at you, take whatever you want from this post and live free.

I attended my monthly La Leche League meeting tonight and had a very good time. I'm working on becoming a leader (YIKES!) and I really like the meetings, the networking, the chatter, the helping others.

I know that many people think the only women who attend the LLL meetings are very crunchy granola, militant breastfeeding femi-Nazis, but that's not true. It's normal women like you and me and Jane down the street who want to feed our babies what God intended from the production device so supplied.

The support to breastfeed is coming back in force. More and more women are coming away from the 50's and 60's mentality that the only milk an infant should drink is powdered formula from sterilized bottles.

What LLL is really about is support. Take or leave whatever anyone at the meetings have to say about any topic - just choose what works best for you and your child(ren) and leave it at that.

It's late. I'm tired, and the screen is whirling around in circles, so I guess I'm done.

--The anti-abortion, breastfeeding, baby-wearing, modesty touting, pro-life, stay-at-home mom of 4, wife of a magnificent, loving man