Does the concept of a baby drinking the breast milk of a stranger make you feel uncomfortable?

Hospitals around the world are beginning to seek donors to donate their breast milk and this is proven vital for the health of some newborn babies.

The donated breast milk is then pasteurised and and frozen until required and is used for babies who need it throughout Australian hospitals. This is becoming vital for hospitals who need breast milk to help feed premature babies, giving them a great start to life.

Often mothers who suffer trauma during childbirth are unable to product milk to feed their baby. According to an article by Nikki Haynes from Nine months, the benefits of breast milk include:
• Babies in the Special Care Nursery or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit who are fed breastmilk progress to normal health 25% faster than if they were fed formula.
• The protein in breastmilk is more easily digested than that of formula.
• Babies fed breastmilk are better equipped to fight infections because breastmilk enhances immunological development.
• Premature babies fed breastmilk are six times less likely to suffer a life threatening gastro-intestinal condition called necrotising enterocolitis.

Although the practice of producing human milk for distribution is becoming more and more accepted by society, we are a long way from seeing breast milk being sold in our local grocery store.  However, when you stop and think about it, society and our cultural norms are a little bit puzzling- where we think it is socially acceptable for us to drink milk from a cow and are shocked about the concept of drinking milk from a human.

With more women returning to the workforce soon after the birth of their child forcing children to be fed using formula, and the evidence of the benefits of breast feeding becoming more apparent, there may be an increased desire to be able to purchase breast milk in a more convenient way.

Did you breast feed your baby? Would you have bought it from the grocery store if it was available?