Please donate milk to victims in Haiti

[goodheartedmama]

http://community.dooce.com/news-even...roject-and-you

[*mama moose*]

I'm pregnant, so I have zero milk left, but I posted it on my facebook! Do you know if there are the same requirements about how much milk you have to donate? I think they usually require at least 100oz, right??

[Mama Mko]

Thanks for this link.

[Dar]

I guess I don't see how this is going to work, honestly. They're having a hard enough time getting clean water to people right now. How in the world do they expect to transport breastmilk to Haiti, keeping it at an appropriate temperature and then getting it to nursing infants who have lost their mothers?

And it seems to me that the resources spent on carefully storing and transporting breastmilk would be better spent on getting food and water to nursing mothers in order to help keep them alive.... and really, if there is a place for a shelf-stable ready to drink artificial baby milk, post-earthquake Haiti seems to be it.

FWIW, there's nothing on the HMBANA home page about this.

[HollyBearsMom]

Dar-

I totally agree.

The coverage on Haiti is devastating. Hospitals are closing because they are so overwhelmed. They are having difficulty getting tankers of water from the Domincan to Porta Prince. They dont have enough forklifts to handle the food and supplies being flown into the airport. The reccomendation is for thing to go by boat now instead.

I think breast milk is very noble and worthwhile but not right now. It is supposed to get into the 90's today and they cant even keep food/water and meds cold.....

[MissinNYC]

I don't think this makes sense. Let's focus on keeping people alive.

[HeliMom]

Personally i think this is wonderful. If the three of you feel there are more important things you should be doing to help go ahead and do them.

I don't have the ability to give a lot of money, I donated 10 dollars to the red cross. But I want to do more. What do I have that can help? Time? No, Money? Nope. Food? Barely feeding the family as it is on hubby's paycheck.

I have a lot of breastmilk in me. Maybe it's not the #1 thing Haiti needs. It is however on the list. And it's within my means.

We should do what we can to help our fellow human beings. Helping in one way does NOT stop you from helping in another.

http://www.breastmilkproject.org/

[crunchy_mommy]

It looks like they currently aren't even able to send breastmilk there yet... but either way donor milk would be put to good use (here in the US or in Haiti) so I don't see the point in discouraging it.

[Sweetiemommy]

My concern would be the difficulty of getting the breastmilk there in a timely manner and then actually distributing it. They just do not have the government infastructure available to get anything, including water to the people in a timely or organized manner. What the Haitian people really need right now is prayer, especially for RAIN, which would keep people hydrated.

[MeepyCat]

I'm with Dar.

Breast milk is highly perishable, and it takes up a lot of volume - you have to include a cooling element with each shipment. If I was a relief organization and I had a choice between a gallon of breast milk and two gallons of pre-mixed Good Start, I'd take the Good Start. And because of the volume needed by dry ice, or other cooling mechanisms, relief organizations would have to make that choice.

Haiti is trying to fly in enough people to keep the airport working. I don't know what kind of shape the roads and the rest of the transportation network are in right now.

Send money. Your $10 is not a lot, but it won't go bad on the tarmac.

[MeepyCat]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy

It looks like they currently aren't even able to send breastmilk there yet... but either way donor milk would be put to good use (here in the US or in Haiti) so I don't see the point in discouraging it.

I am all in favor of donating breast milk, but breast milk donated in the United States is not going to Haiti. Not today, and possibly not ever. Any charity that tells you to give ANYTHING for a specific cause and then does nothing to help that cause is a parasite preying on disaster victims in need by lying to people who want to help them. I'm not less upset about that lie if what you give comes out of your deep freeze instead of your bank account.

If you have breast milk to give, please do. There are children who need it greatly - but if you give breast milk in the United States, I can tell you for just about sure that the children who receive it will not be Haitian earthquake survivors.

[UberMama]

Does it state what milk they will accept? Usually banks will not accept any milk that was pumped prior to your being tested/accepted.

I can see them getting milk to Haiti in a couple of weeks but not much sooner. :/

[jeanine123]

Originally Posted by HeliMom

http://www.breastmilkproject.org/

This organization is affiliated with Prolacta, a FOR PROFIT milk bank. Yes, they've donated thousands of ounces of breastmilk to babies in Africa but they also KEPT thousands of ounces for use in making their incredibly expensive, for profit, human milk fortifier. I would not trust them to actually send all of the milk donated to Haiti or anywhere else for that matter.

http://thelactivist.blogspot.com/200...rnational.html

http://thelactivist.blogspot.com/200...e-sending.html

[jeanine123]

[QUOTE=crunchy_mommy;14940939]It looks like they currently aren't even able to send breastmilk there yet... but either way donor milk would be put to good use (here in the US or in Haiti) so I don't see the point in discouraging it.

[QUOTE]


Of course donating milk is always a good thing, just make sure the place you're donating to is reputable. With IBMP's affiliation with Prolacta I don't consider them to be reputable, they've already demonstrated a willingness to use the milk donated for Prolacta's for profit endeavors. If you want to donate milk and have it go to children who actually need it instead of run the risk of it being used to line a corporations' pocket go through an HMBANA milk bank.

[LemonPie]

I'm with Dar too.

[Sk8ermaiden]

The more I think about this, the less sense it makes.

Not oly do we have the massive transportation and cooling costs, but once a family gets breastmilk, they have to have access to a freezer to keep it cold, and thawing breastmilk while your baby is screaming hungry is not fun (and I HAVE hot water to run over the bags to facilitate thawing.) Not to mention, if they give a family with an infant like 100 oz (because I really doubt they're going to get enough milk to give tons to each baby), that milk is only going to last 3 days before the baby needs formula anyway. A big shipment of formula would do so much more good. IF any milk actually gets sent, I would almost guarantee it would go bad before it got to anyone.

But this is coming from someone who spent countless hours/days hunting down breastmilk for her baby, and driving all over creation to retrieve it, before finally giving up at 6 months because there just isn't milk to be had. My first thought when reading the headline was, "Babies HERE need milk." And certainly not from a for-profit milk bank...milkshare is always looking for milk.

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by MeepyCat

Any charity that tells you to give ANYTHING for a specific cause and then does nothing to help that cause is a parasite preying on disaster victims in need by lying to people who want to help them.

Well I don't think they're lying to anyone, it says right on their website that they can't send milk down yet & if they aren't able to use it in Haiti they will use it here in the US for NICU http://www.breastmilkproject.org/haiti.php

I know absolutely nothing about the organization itself though. They say they are non-profit but I don't know their affiliations.

Regardless, I'm not sending milk (not even eligible to donate) but I am sending money. And of course lots of prayers. We are not rich but we will just give what we can...

[HeliMom]

Originally Posted by jeanine123

Of course donating milk is always a good thing, just make sure the place you're donating to is reputable. With IBMP's affiliation with Prolacta I don't consider them to be reputable, they've already demonstrated a willingness to use the milk donated for Prolacta's for profit endeavors. If you want to donate milk and have it go to children who actually need it instead of run the risk of it being used to line a corporations' pocket go through an HMBANA milk bank.

the website that I found breastmilk project.org says to go through HMBANA. Seems a little strange if they are up to no good as you suspect.

The following isn't directed at any one previous poster:

I guess I don't understand the negativity surrounding this idea. My cousin needed donated breastmilk because of surgery on her breasts, and she couldn't feed her twins on just her supply alone at first. We didn't go through a milk bank, we did it in family.

I'll admit I don't know anything about how Milk Banks are run and perhaps it's my naivete that thinks people/corporate groups can do the right thing in an emergency situation.

Maybe the milk won't be distributed straight to mothers but used for the the babies that are being born today, tomorrow, or this past week who are medical centers who do not have access to their mothers for whatever reason( death/ pain meds). I have no idea. Maybe It won't go down to Haiti and it will be kept in the US NICUs. Again I have no idea.

But why crap on someone's effort to help? That I just do not understand. Why? Why be so negative? Why not come into this thread with added suggestions, if you feel there are other things that must be done? Is helping really an either/or situation?

I've had 3x that I've lost my home to natural disaster(One fire 2 flood) I can say that yes, red cross water kept us alive. But the cookies that were sent to the firehouse (our makeshift home) made our little community feel human. No, cookies weren't needed, but they were immensely appreciated. And I can't say that my little podunk river town, felt 1/10th of the disaster Haiti's communities are experiencing, I'm just trying to say that there are many ways to help.

Again it's probably my naivete, but I'd love it if we could support one another here. This particular thread is about donating milk, which literally may be the least some of us can do, but I support it. And I will try to do it.

[Mrs-Mama]

Originally Posted by UberMama

Does it state what milk they will accept? Usually banks will not accept any milk that was pumped prior to your being tested/accepted.

Actually, HMBANA does accept milk even if it was pumped prior to being tested. I just donated over 300 oz that was pumped before I even considered donating. I guess they figure that if I don't have HIV or Hepatitis now, then I didn't have it then, since there is no cure for either of them They also required my OB's signature stating that I was in good health, and a sign-off from my dd's ped saying that it would not do harm to my baby by donating milk.

[jeanine123]

Originally Posted by HeliMom

the website that I found breastmilk project.org says to go through HMBANA. Seems a little strange if they are up to no good as you suspect.

The following isn't directed at any one previous poster:

I guess I don't understand the negativity surrounding this idea. My cousin needed donated breastmilk because of surgery on her breasts, and she couldn't feed her twins on just her supply alone at first. We didn't go through a milk bank, we did it in family.

I'll admit I don't know anything about how Milk Banks are run and perhaps it's my naivete that thinks people/corporate groups can do the right thing in an emergency situation.

Maybe the milk won't be distributed straight to mothers but used for the the babies that are being born today, tomorrow, or this past week who are medical centers who do not have access to their mothers for whatever reason( death/ pain meds). I have no idea. Maybe It won't go down to Haiti and it will be kept in the US NICUs. Again I have no idea.

But why crap on someone's effort to help? That I just do not understand. Why? Why be so negative? Why not come into this thread with added suggestions, if you feel there are other things that must be done? Is helping really an either/or situation?

I've had 3x that I've lost my home to natural disaster(One fire 2 flood) I can say that yes, red cross water kept us alive. But the cookies that were sent to the firehouse (our makeshift home) made our little community feel human. No, cookies weren't needed, but they were immensely appreciated. And I can't say that my little podunk river town, felt 1/10th of the disaster Haiti's communities are experiencing, I'm just trying to say that there are many ways to help.

Again it's probably my naivete, but I'd love it if we could support one another here. This particular thread is about donating milk, which literally may be the least some of us can do, but I support it. And I will try to do it.

What website is that? Because the one linked to here, that I responded to is affiliated with Prolacta, not HMBANA. If you donate to Breastmilk Project there's a very good chance that your milk will be used for profit by Prolacta. Not all of the milk that has been donated in the past for babies in Africa, in fact only 25% of it made it there, as outlined in the blog posts I provided earlier in this thread. I want to make sure women are fully aware of this before deciding whether or not to donate their milk. I never said don't donate milk, I'm merely trying to make sure people have all of the information available to them in order to make a fully informed decision.