Guest Post: Sourcing Breastmilk for an Adopted Baby

Remember early this year when I posted about a milk sharing story about adoptive dads who sourced breastmilk for their baby?  This time, I am sharing a story closer to home.  Today's guest post is from Jason Baker of PETA Asia Pacific.  A friend of Jason posted in one of my egroups about how he was looking for breastmilk for his adopted son.  Super small world, I patched him up with a kababayan from Davao City and Pangging became a regular milk donor.   Jason shared this story with me almost a year ago and I wasn't able to share it until now.

http://instagram.com/p/k0x3uRKXSF/?modal=true

Why did I decide to share?  Since it is breastfeeding month, I've been seeing a lot of stories about breastfeeding in various news outfits. However, I was greatly saddened when a popular site shared a story about a mom saying that breastfeeding advocates condemn formula feeding moms.  She goes on to say that counselors live in posh villages, that formula milk is good enough for her child, that it is impossible for a working mom to commute and bring all her breastfeeding paraphernalia.

Breastmilk for Sale

This was shared to me by fellow LATCHer Mec on FB.  Mec was tagged by her friend Jah who shared that she saw the ad on the Sulit website.  I went to sulit and saw 2 ads offering breast milk for sale.  I also saw an ad in Multiply.  Both of them also offered to swap the milk for diapers:

Breast Milk for Sale or Swap

karenyang1234.sulit.com.ph - Wednesday, February 20, 2013

2013 © Sulit.com.ph

FROZEN BREASTMILK FOR SALE OR SWAP(DIAPERS)

Naturalorigins.sulit.com.ph - Friday, January 4, 2013

2013 © Sulit.com.ph

A Milk Sharing Story

Update 22 February 2014:  I have edited this post upon the request of J, who initially shared his story with me.  They initially asked me to delete this post.  However, I feel that it is such an important story to share.  To compromise, we agreed on changing the names as they want to preserve their anonymity.

Remember my post entitled "Concerns of a Milk Donor Mom" where I shared the hierarchy of babies that I donate to:

I do have a hierarchy of babies I give milk to - first would be the sick or premature babies then multiples and milk banks, then for emergencies, e.g. mom got sick, etc. If your baby is healthy and you just cannot pump enough milk, ASKING FOR MILK is not sustainable - you need to bring up your own supply

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I received an email from Victor, a reader from the US who emailed me about this hierarchy.  He is a new parent and is in a male same-sex relationship.  Since both of them are men, it was impossible for one of them to relactate, unlike an adoption involving a heterosexual couple.  Victor shared how they were able to provide breastmilk to their baby girl through milk donations for several moms.  He wanted to know how families such as theirs ranked in my hierarchy of milk donations.  The baby was healthy but there was no "mom" who can lactate and produce milk.

Pearls from the Compostela Valley Breastfeeding Mission Experience - Part 3

This is the last of three parts.  Please refer to Parts 1 and 2. This is a guest post written by Dr. Lei who participated in all the aspects of the breastfeeding mission. Dr. Lei also runs an online store, Caleb's Closet and shares her thoughts in her blog, Lei's Anatomy.

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4. Human Milk transport and storage requires a lot of logistics but tapping on to the right network, we have available resources to make things work. 
Breast milk is a precious commodity that requires care in handling. Refrigerated human milk is good for 3-4 days. In the usual one-door domestic freezers, this extends to 3 weeks. For deep freezers, viability stretches from 6 months to 1 year. However, when frozen breast milk is thawed, it should be refrigerated, consumed or discarded within 24 hours.

Pearls from the Compostela Valley Breastfeeding Mission Experience - Part 2

This is the second of three parts.  You can read Part 1 here.  This is a guest post written by Dr. Lei who participated in all the aspects of the breastfeeding mission.  Dr. Lei also runs an online store, Caleb's Closet and shares her thoughts in her blog, Lei's Anatomy.


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3. Substantial amounts of human milk can be collected and stored for the above babies.

We were able to collect 67 liters of milk in less than 2 weeks. (Having talked with Velvet, they actually came up with 100 liters in a single day, involving just one barangay!!). Substantial amounts of human milk can be collected and preserved properly.

After UNICEF’s call for milk donations went out to our Team UnangYakap, the response was crazy. In a matter of 24 hours, we helped mobilize private individuals (e.g. Maricel Cua of Medela Moms, Davao-based childbirth educator/advocate Alex Hao, blogger/advocate/lawyer Jenny Ong and mother support groups at the BangkoSentralngPilipinas etc,), the Lactation Units of The Medical City, St. Luke’s Global Hospital (through the leadership of Dr. Cristina Bernardo, IBCLC and Breastfeeding Committee Head of the Philippine Pediatric Society), and the 3 Human Milk Banks in NCR (Fabella, PCMC and the UP-PGH through the coordination of Dr .Fay de Ocampo, kangaroo mother care expert and Team UnangYakap).

Pearls from the Compostela Valley Breastfeeding Mission Experience - Part 1

I was quite blessed to be part of the breastfeeding drive for babies of Compostela Valley.  Through this drive, I was finally able to meet Dr. Lei Camiling Alfonso of Caleb's Closet Ecostore.  We had been email and FB-mates but never got to meet each other in person.  She was very involved in the drive and we finally met in my hometown when she flew in to transport breastmilk to ComVal.  I asked Lei to share her story and experiences during the trip to ComVal and she generously agreed.  Aside from her online store, Lei also shares her thoughts and blogs at Lei's Anatomy.  Read on and learn!

This is the first of three parts.
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Face it, our country is disaster prone. And relief work is something that has really sparked my interest because of the sheer need and urgency. This has taken a whole new meaning with my new understanding of breastfeeding and its implications for infants in disaster areas. Most health workers have little knowledge of breastfeeding and lactation management during crisis. I have read the theories and the expert recommendations, but I haven’t seen them work on the ground. During the holidays, I was privileged to be with my Team UnangYakap mentors, Dr. Maria Asuncion Silvestre and Dr. Donna Isabel Capili supported by WHO Philippines (thru the United Nations Central Emergency Fund) to conduct a breastfeeding mission for Pablo victims in one of the evacuation sites. I am thrilled to report to you some realizations:

Unang Yakap's Breastmilk Collection and Storage Guidelines for Donor Moms

Whether we express milk for donation or for immediate consumption, we should always keep in mind the guidelines on collection and storage.  Dr. Lei Camiling-Alfonso shares some information on collection and storage of breastmilk by donor moms.  These guidelines have been reviewed by Dr. Francesca Tatad-To (who we sorely miss at LATCH) and was written for the Unang Yakap campaign.  Team Unang Yakap allowed me to reprint these guidelines for easy access to potential donor moms.

A Call for Breastmilk Donations for Victims of Pablo

STOP! Are you going to donate milk? Read THIS first.  Please donate frozen and not thawed milk.  Thank you!

We are mobilizing again and calling for breastmilk donations to share to the victims of Pablo in Compostela Valely, Mindanao. Here is the call from Dr. Mianne Silvestre:

I just received an SMS from Dr Paul Zambrano of UNICEF who is at an emergency meeting in Davao with Sec Dinky Soliman of DSWD. Sec Dinky is appealing for donations of human milk. 

Let's do this, friends! Let's stand by the principles of Infant Feeding in Emergencies IFE and show how Breastfeeding Missions should be done. 

Team Unang Yakap - EINC will be networking with contacts in Davao while I am committing the UP-PGH Lactation Unit and Milk Bank to help with the pasteurization of donor milk. Calling on the other Milk Banks - Fabella and PCMC and if already set up the Zamboanga City Medical Center to help out. Let's give responsibly. Let's save lives. Let's give hope.

Guest Post: Transporting Breastmilk via Air

A major concern of a mom who travels without baby is how to bring back that precious liquid gold to her baby when she travels back home.  My own experience with traveling with breastmilk was not so bad because it was a trip from the US who had set TSA regulations.  However, since I was bringing home frozen milk checked in, I had some issues with the dry ice.  I decided to use dry ice since I was flying from the East Coast and it would take about 24 hours before I could get home and put the milk in the freezer.

How did I do it?  My aunt had an insulated cooler which she saved after she was given some chocolate covered strawberries.  I used this cooler and packed with with dry ice.  I bought the dry ice the night before my flight from the closest Safeway store.  Early the next morning, I was still able to pump and packed the freshly expressed milk along with my frozen milk in the insulated box, placed some newspapers, then dry ice on top.  Upon checking in, my box had to be opened.  Apparently, when traveling with dry ice, you have to inform the airline in advance and you can only check in a maximum of 8lbs.

Happily, I was within limit and when I got home more than 24 hours later, everything frozen solid - including the freshly expressed milk which was still in liquid form when I packed it.