[sincitymama]

My husband and I were just talking about this today. We saw that cnn article about breastmilk curing warts. He's had one for a while, hadn't bothered calling the dr to have it removed, so when he saw that he showed me and said Start pumping! lol.

But it got me curious, if he were to drink milk that I've pumped, would there be health benefits for him? Obviously it's good calories, lots of nutrients, but would it make much difference? He's had lots of problems with his stomach. The doctors have said IBS, pancreatitis (the latest and most likely diagnosis), they've tested for crohns, etc..

He's mostly been ok lately, getting lots of exercise seems to help, but what do you all think? Could it help him?

I said he should toss back a shot glass of ebm every time he takes his insulin (2-3x daily). We just want some confirmation before I start pumping extra.

So does anybody have info or links about this? Anecdotes?
I'll google it if I have to, I'm just afraid at what will come up in a search! So anything you already have would be great.

Thanks so much!
-Sarah

 

[KiwiZ]

Very interesting! I'm curious about this too! If cows milk is supposed to be so good for us (all the "Got milk" and "24 oz in 24 hours" campaigns in mags/TV), what about bmilk? How about bmilk cheese, yogurt, etc?

One problem I could think of is I guess it would be a big prob to get enough bmilk out there for everyone? How much bmilk could you pump in theory each day beyond what your child/children needed if you were providing it commercially?

Very interesting!

 

[mraven721]

The other day my DS got a scrape in his knee (his first

) and what was my soultion? But BM on it!
Interesting about the warts, I'll have to see if I can find that article.

 

[Janice in Canada]

Warts Link:

http://apnews.excite.com/article/200...D83CUVOO0.html

Milk from milk banks is used as therapy for adults with certain diseases. I can't find a reference right now. especially digestive problems (IBS, crohn's)

How much could a mom pump, beyond her own child's needs? See this article
on milk bank donors is Norway.

http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article208126.ece

"The average donor provides one and half to two liters a week, while Lie has delivered as much as 11 liters."

 

[Janice in Canada]

From Lactent archives:

Here's the link to the web site for Howard J. Cohen, Ph.D. who was diagnosed
with prostate cancer and used breastmilk as part of his treatment (see
section titled "Secret Weapons"):

www.cohensw.com/mvpcsg_nov99_text.html

Also see
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/...&P=R11500&I=-3
Adult use of milk to treat colitis.

and
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/...&P=R10744&I=-3

 

[Faith]

I have heard of people pumping for friends and relatives with cancer or other serious diseases. I wish I knew of some hard facts to give you. I read an article a long time ago that showed when you put breastmilk in a dish with cancer cells, it killed the cancer cells. I think it might have been connected to HAMLET too, but I can't remember.

I was actually just discussing this with someone the other day from church, and I guess the Bible says that your breasts will be a fountain for your husband. I thought that was interesting, that if you believe in God- He planned it that way.

I am not a pumper at all (hate it!) but I can see how the benefits would apply another adult- like getting the antibodies for germs in your enviroment, etc, but to mention the brain building things and all the things that they don't even know about yet! It definitely wouldn't hurt to try.

 

[sincitymama]

Thanks for all the replies!
I figured if there was anyplace to ask without people thinking I was completely insane, this was it.

So from what I can see, there is a fair amount of anecdotal evidence saying that bm can indeed be beneficial to adults, particularly those with cancers or stomach issues.
No big studies really, but just because they haven't been done. Not that they've done the studies and got negative results. As my husband pointed out, of course nobody is studying it in a big way, there's no money to be made from the results! lol

So we're going to try it and see. It certainly can't hurt, right? I can pump about 3-4oz in a sitting, so if I do that once a day it'll be 1-2oz for dh and freeze the rest for emergencies or whatever for the babe.

If we see anything remarkable I'll let y'all know! Thanks!

 

[Pam_and_Abigail]

I wondered this when my grandmother developed leukemia. I read about her disease in one of my biology textbooks, how her bosy could no longer produce antibodies, and I thought maybe I could express milk for her. I ran the idea past my mom and it was a no-go, but it's something to think about. What about AIDS patients?
But, then I wonder about the effects on the moms. I mean our bodies are meant to provide for maybe a couple kids at a time, but nutritionally, what happens when she starts pumping out litres extra per week? Women are great, but we aren't an infinite supply of liquid gold!

 

[Ravin]

I've read about women feeding old people in some traditional societies, as well as pigs being fattened for a feast. It's too bad my sister doesn't lactate (she bf her DD for less than 3 months and her DD is 9), as her husband has just been diagnosed w/ ulcerative colitis. If I lived near them, I'd volunteer to pump for him if he'd take it, either straight or as yogurt maybe.

 

[ShadowMom]

I wonder if breastmilk would help someone with AIDS. Don't they have immune system deficiencies? Wouldn't that help them since it contains antibodies?

For other therapeutic uses, it occurs to me that bm has a lot of saturated fat, so it might not be good for you from that standpoint (although obviously if it was being used to treat a disease or other problem, the benefits probably outweight the risks).

Very interesting thread!!!