"Milksharing on Facebook: one year later"

With the whirlwind of starting homeschooling and getting ready for Halloween, I completely forgot about our first anniversary!  October 28th marked the first anniversary of the launch of a global milksharing network on Facebook!!  I can NOT believe that it's already been 12 months- it seems like just weeks ago we were setting up pages and organizing hundreds of volunteers and pulling together press releases..... WOW!

Jodine's World's article  "Milksharing on Facebook: One year later" sums it all up perfectly!!

It's been a whole year since Emma Kwasnica's Facebook milksharing network  was launched. I can't believe it's been that long - seems like 10 minutes ago I was blogging about the six-month anniversary with my post, "A funny thing happened on the way to the milk bank."
Early on there were some bumps for global milksharing - understandable as 300 volunteer admins struggled to set up and run local communities using Facebook. Just as individuals struggle with the love-hate relationship with Facebook, so did the admins managing over a hundred community pages in 50 countries around the globe.
 Then there were some personality clashes - the original Eats on Feets Arizona community page founder parted ways with the global network after asserting her rights to her name. The global group became Human Milk 4 Human Babies (HM4HB) and while moms just kept right on offering up surplus milk and babes continued to receive it, the name change has hampered the growth of this network. There are still some Eats on Feets pages around and families new to milksharing can't always find their active local communities. And these days the Eats on Feets website has been hijacked by someone peddling breast implants and pregnancy diets, creating the potential for confusion for individuals and even reporters looking to do a feature on the one-year anniversary of the movement.
But Human Milk 4 Human Babies hasn't lost any steam and in September it sponsored the first World Milksharing Week with broad worldwide participation from Australia to Arizona.
 And although France joined the US and Canada with official warnings about the dangers of informal or Internet-based milksharing, three well-known academics published a supportive commentary in the International Breastfeeding Journal. "Milk Sharing: from private practice to public pursuit"  has become the most accessed item on the IBJ website this year. Authors James Akre, Karleen Gribble and Maureen Minchin argue the risks of milksharing are manageable and conclude: 

 

"this made-by-mothers model shows considerable potential for expanding the world's supply of human milk and improving the health of children." Akre, Gribble, Minchin, IBJ 2011

HERE to read the entire article on Jodine's World

So much has happened in the past year.  Human Milk 4 Human Babies has grown bigger and faster and busier than we ever thought possible at this time last year.  Mothers are coming together all over the world to create "communities" to support each other and insure that babies are getting the breastmilk they need to grow and be strong and healthy.  This is the Vision and Mission of HM4HB: to promote the nourishment of babies and children around the world with human milk. We are dedicated to fostering community between local families who have chosen to share breastmilk.

Our Vision

HM4HB is a global milksharing network, a virtual village, comprising thousands of people from over fifty countries. We are mothers, fathers, adoptive families, grandparents, childbirth and breastfeeding professionals, volunteers, supporters, donors, and recipients that have come together to support the simple idea that all babies and children have the right to receive human milk. We use social media as a platform for local families to make real-life connections and come together as sustainable milksharing communities where women graciously share their breastmilk. HM4HB is built on the principle of informed choice: we trust, honour, and value the autonomy of families and we assert they are capable of weighing the benefits and risks of milksharing in order to make choices that are best for them. We hold the space for them and protect their right to do what is normal, healthy, and ecological.

Breastmilk, the biologically normal sustenance for humankind, is a free-flowing resource and mothers of the world are willing to share it. Milksharing is a vital tradition that has been taken from us, and it is crucial that we regain trust in ourselves, our neighbors, and in our fellow women. Feeding any breastmilk substitute is not without risk and we support the families who know there is another option. We are the bridge that connects local families and brings them together again as milksharing communities. Indeed, the future of humanity depends on our return to sharing in a local and tangible way with one another.

We want milksharing and wet-nursing to be commonplace and babies to be fed at women's breasts whenever and wherever they need it. We dream of a world where mothers from previous generations pass on the tradition of breastfeeding and are a wealth of knowledge and support. We can forsee a time when women protect each other and help one another feed their babies so that every mother feels whole and no mother feels broken or that her body is failing her. We imagine a world where family members, friends, lactation consultants, doctors, and midwives do not hesitate to recommend donor milk when it is needed. We envision a future where families come together to raise this generation, and the next, by nourishing human babies everywhere with human milk and unconditional love.

Every person of the world is invited to join HM4HB. Page administrators, members, donors, recipients, and supporters are all important for building local, real-life communities where acquiring donor milk is no different than asking a trusted neighbor for an egg. We hope that one day in the future all babies in the world will thrive and grow on mother's milk, and HM4HB will no longer be needed because wet-nurses and breastmilk are available on every street, village, town, city, and island around the globe.

 For more information about Human Milk 4 Human Babies, please visit the website at: http://hm4hb.net/index.html  Visit the global fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hm4hb

Eats on Feets & Human Milk 4 Human Babies: my personal perspective

I'd like to tell you my personal story of how I joined a Global Milksharing Network: my experiences with the people involved and where I am today.

Months and months ago I heard about a baby that needed donated breastmilk.  The story of Camara and Anaya touch me deep inside and I immediately posted here on my blog about their urgent need and their heartrending story. Not long after that I came across stories of other babies that also needed donated breastmilk, like Kelley's baby, and the amazing story of baby Jayden. From then on I always kept my ears and eyes opened for  stories like theirs and tried to do what little I could to help moms find human milk for their babies.

October 2010 rolled around and a friend of mine Emma Kwasnica, fellow lactivist and natural childbirth advocate from Montreal Canada, put out a call that I couldn't answer fast enough.  She was creating a global network to support milk sharing.  Emma had known a midwife in Arizona named Shell Walker who had a small local facebook page called "Eats on Feets" that encouraged and supported milksharing in her neighborhood, and Emma asked Shell if she could use the catchy name for her Global Network, and thus Eats on Feets Global was born. I jumped up and jumped into the fray immediately and created the Eats on Feets- South Western Ontario page.

With in a couple of weeks we had over 100 local pages in 22 countries around the world, with more pages being created almost weekly. Emma lead us and kept us together and guided the creation of the network with her amazing personal strength and her vision. Our goal was to encourage informed choice on our pages, to be completely non-commercial, and to work with transparency and openness. It was exciting and exhausting all at the same time. While we were happy working away helping mothers who needed breastmilk find mothers with extra milk to give, problems were about to arise that we were not prepared for.

First of all Shell Walker and  her associate Maria Armstrong decided that our small FAQ, that we had written for the pages and the eof.org website, was not good enough and they pulled it down, leaving the admins and moms on our pages with out an info page to reference for questions.  This started much grumbling among the admins and when days stretch into weeks without the FAQ, the discontent started to spread.  Finally in February 2011 Shell and Maria presented their version of a FAQ to the Global Admin group.  This was not a FAQ, it was a reference manual over 50 pages long, with detailed medical information and claimed itself to be the ultimate manual on how milk sharing should happen between mothers.  The EOF Global admins were not happy and believed that this reference manual would open up the network to liability issues and most of the admins were not comfortable with handing over medical information when we ourselves are not medical professionals. When admins came to the Global group to try to discuss their misgivings about the manual and ask for changes to be made, they were ignored by both Shell and Maria. In response to this, a group of us came together to write a simple FAQ that the EOF Global Admins would be comfortable with using.  We worked for 3 days solid, night and day to get it done.  During this time things in the EOF Global admins group deteriorated significantly and many of us started to seriously worry about the future of working with Shell and Maria when they were incapable of listening to the admins and daily changed their mind about all sorts of fundamental ideals about the network and where it was heading.

Then the shocker came, in the form of a mass email from Shell Walker to all the EOF global admins.  Shell grandly announced that SHE was trademarking the name "Eats on Feets" and had created "terms of use" for all the admins to follow.  She buttered us up by saying that the pages were our own to keep and to run, but the small print stated that she had the over all power of veto and could take our pages away from us at her discretion.  The Global admins were shocked and outraged at this announcement. Shell did not ask any of us for our opinion, she didn't involve any of the admins in her decision. There was no transparency. Further, they made changes to the eof.org site that included deleting Emma's name completely, naming Maria as the goto person for the creation of new pages, and stated that admins were now "breastfeeding educators" though almost none of us have any training or credentials to claim that.  I was shocked and to be frank, completely freaked out by everything that was happening. 

On March 2nd 2011 Emma, myself and a group of admins made the final decision that we could no longer align ourselves with Shell Walker and her companions, and could no long work under the trademarked name of "Eats on Feets" and it's Terms of Use. At this point we moved forward and changed the name of our global network to Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network.  Of the 300 admins that made up the global milksharing network, 270  decided to rename their pages to Human Milk 4 Human Babies, and approx 20 admins choose to keep their pages named Eats on Feets and to stay with Shell Walker's TOU.

The first thing we did was to create new HM4HB pages to replace our old EOF pages- unfortunately Facebook does not allow pages to change their name after they have 100 "likers".  We announce to our members and "Likers" that we had changed the name of our network and that we were moving to our new pages. A couple of days later all the former EOF admins received a second email from Shell trying to convince admins to stay with her.  Then came the shock that none of us could believe was possible.

On March 7th, I was desperately trying to help a mom who had just posted on my SW Ontario EOF page find lactose and gluten free breastmilk.  I got up from my computer for a few moments only to return to discover that my eof page was gone.  Completely.  I cursed Facebook, thinking it just a glitch, I sent messages to the other admins on our page.... then I received the dreaded message from Facebook, the EOF SWOntario page had been deleted: "We have removed or disabled access to the following content that you have posted on Facebook because we received a notice from a third party that the content infringes or otherwise violates their rights" Over 60 eof pages were deleted that day, leaving hundreds of babies without the milk they desperately needed. My self and my fellow admins did not receive any warning. Needless to say the grief and anger of the HM4HB admins was all encompassing. We raged and we sobbed. But our resolve to build Human Milks 4 Human Babies into an amazing milksharing global network grew immensely, and our disgust for Shell Walker and her co-conspirators knew no bounds. But deleting pages wasn't enough for Shell and Maria, they also hijacked pages, kicked out the local admins and took them over- Israel, Tasmania, Hungary, Singapore and Nederlands ... and others were stolen from their proper admins and are now being run - in english- by people who've never even stepped foot in those countries or have any knowledge of their customs or language.

Shell Walker and Maria Armstrong have done everything in their power to rewrite the history of EOF, including deleting Emma's involvement completely, and insisting that they are the "Same" global network. They are not. They are a few people out of the network that decided to keep on using the name "eats on feets", the real network is made up of the 270 admins that changed names to re-create a truly global network. Shell and Maria have repeatedly changed their mission, restructured their organization and just recently announced that they will be involved in commercial endeavors with a company in Britain. They have no concept of Informed Choice, do not work even slightly through transparency- for their admins nor the people that look to their pages to find human milk. They say that "it's all for the babies" and that the mothers "own" the eof pages, yet they have repeatedly put their own interests before getting human milk to the babies that need it.

Shell and Maria will tell you that none of this is true, but the former eof admins have proof- we have screen shots of all the conversations, we have all the messages and emails that went back and forth between Shell and some of the admins, we have every single post that Shell and Maria made right from the very beginning of the network. For some of this info feel free to visit Eats on Feets- the ugly truth.  

We have the Truth.

...we have the global network.

And we HAVE created an outstanding milksharing network. Emma put together a group of twenty admins to be Peer Helpers to help run the various ad hoc groups and discussions on consensus, governance, and to create our brilliant Mission and Vision Statements. We do all our work with full transparency and run on consensus so that every Admin in our network can have their say. We are getting human milk to human babies every single day all over the world. We now have over 300 admins, in over 60 countries all over the world.

We Rock.

Introducing: Human Milk for Human Babies- formerly Eats on Feets Global

In a grand announcement  a few months ago, the Toronto Star published an article  "Pediatricians call for breast milk banks across Canada".  Applause, yes applause.  It's a wonderful thing that the media has jumped on the band wagon and is making public announcements like this, I mean,  any publicity is good publicity KWIM? Horray for Breastmilk!

But I have to admit that it irks me.  Mothers and Doctors, like Dr. Jack Newman, have been crying out for Milk Banks for Years- YEARS!!!! Not only that, but Canada does have a Milk Bank in Vancouver BC... a milk bank that they have been trying to close down for years!!  I wrote an article on the topic just a couple of months ago: Canada Needs Milk Banks!!!

 Yes, there is absolutely no doubt that Canada needs Milk Banks, and lots of them.  But if they are run like the BC Womens Hospital Milk Bank, keeping the liquid gold just for themselves, then how will that help babies in need in outlying communities?  And what about those "babies in need"?  The article in the Toronto Star yesterday states:

The milk, which would be pasteurized with the same heating method dairies use, would go mainly to two groups of infants, Unger says.

“There would be the really, really pre-term babies, the extremely low birth weight babies,” she says. “The other group of babies are the group who need surgery on their bowels.”

While no one would argue that these fragile infants desperately need breastmilk, ALL babies deserve breastmilk.  What about babies who's mothers are not physiologically capable of producing enough milk to exclusively breastfeeding their babies?  What about other fragile babies? What about older infants that are absolutely reliant on breastmilk to survive?  Infants like Anaya who are extremely ill and intolerant of ANYTHING except breastmilk?

ALL BABIES DESERVE BREASTMILK!

Breastfeeding is NOT best, Breastfeeding is Normal.  But what if you are one of the (Hypothesized) 3% of women who are physically unable to produce enough milk to exclusively nurse their babies?  What if you have done everything possible to build and boost your milk supply.... and you still can't produce enough milk to exclusively breastfeed your baby?  What then?

For many mothers they had only one option... until now.  NOW there is a global movement going on, a movement to get breastmilk to every baby in need through milk donations. It's called Milk Sharing.

Right here in Ontario there are currently no milk banks. So for a baby to receive breastmilk, the only way is from their mother, or through donations from other breastfeeding mothers. Hence the launch of  "Human Milk 4 Human Babies". We are here to help families that need milk, find families that are willing to donate milk.

Originally we started a global breastmilk sharing network called "Eats on Feets Global" back in Oct 2010.  Breastfeeding and childbirth activist Emma Kwasnica decided to launch a global network to help mothers who needed breastmilk find mothers who had breastmilk to spare.  In the summer of 2010 a Phoenix based midwife Shell Walker started a  local community page on Facebook dedicated to milk sharing. Emma, an advocate for informed choice, who was already connecting people around the globe who wanted to share milk via her personal profile page, approached Shell and asked to use her name "Eats on Feets" for the Global milk sharing network. Permission was granted by Shell  and Emma launched Eats On Feets GLOBAL. This network grew quickly to over 100 communities spanning the globe. 

Last week Eats On Feets GLOBAL changed its name to Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network. Within hours, donors and recipients were making matches on HM4HB. There are now 275 volunteers administering over 100 community pages in 42 countries. Donors and recipients are using the network to make matches literally every hour of every day.  For more information about the changes to the Global networks name please click HERE

Milk Sharing is not a new fad.  Milk sharing is as old as the human race and is still practised in societies where breastfeeding is the social norm.  Mothers have been nursing other babies since the beginning of time and babies have thrived.  All across the world mothers are forming impromptu "villages", caring and nurturing their children together,  caring for and helping each other, and nursing each others babies in an effort to provide healthy human food in a nurturing manner when it's needed.

 Every baby deserves human milk, we can't state that enough.  Sometimes we need to all pull together to make sure that no baby is left behind. Cows milk for baby cows, Human milk for baby humans.  It's really that simple.

 If you are a mom with a baby in need of breastmilk come to Human Milk For Human Babies and you'll find moms with milk to give.  If you're a mom that has breastmilk to give, come to HM4HB and you will find a mother in need of your generous donation.  It's all about getting Human Milk to Human Babies!!!

What formula is NOT.

I just discovered this blog tonight and immediately had to share it with all of you.  This article is brilliantly well written, it outlines everything in a way that is non-confrontational, and most importantly does not gloss over the facts. I have a sick baby tonight so don't have time to really get into my thoughts here, but rest assured I'll be looking forward to reading more from "The Babe and the Breast" blog!

What Formula Is Not 

Ah, the hot button issue. There has been a large kerfuffle of attention lately over the start-up of a new milk-sharing network on Facebook called Eats On Feets (http://www.eatsonfeets.org). The brainchild of Arizona midwife Shell Walker and fierce Montreal lactivist Emma Kwasnica, Eats On Feets is a network run by merit of individual state, province, and country pages where moms or families who are having difficulty with milk supply can turn to other lactating mothers for donated milk to supplement or feed their children. Moms with oversupply provide the milk, and Eats on Feets provides the space. It is a good setup, with Eats On Feets administrators and creators putting emphasis on the need for informed choice. The FAQ on their page is thorough and provides information on flash-pasteurization, disease transmission, and obtaining medical history from potential donors. Soon after Eats On Feets emerged as a major player (and a major threat to the formula industry), many medical groups jumped to issue vehement statements to the media, with their focus being less about informed choice and more on fear-mongering. The response from Health Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society has been extremely cautionary, focusing on the risks of breast-milk sharing and calling the practice "very dangerous". The Calgary Herald.   Health Canada states that “unprocessed human milk should not be shared.” (see Health Canada’s statement HERE)





Considering the rapid rise of popularity for informed milk sharing, it should come as no surprise that this month Health Canada chose to revise and rewrite its existing infant feeding recommendations. What is shocking however, if that the new recommendations state that “Commercial infant formulas are the only acceptable alternative to breastmilk” (See full draft statement HERE). There is no mention of donor breastmilk, either through a milk bank or via less formal channels. In fact, not only is the option of donor breast milk completely ignored, but the make-up and risks of formula feeding are also completely absent. Instead a huge portion of the document focuses on what formula is, what it contains, what types are available, and how it should be prepared.





WHAT???





Not only are the risks of formula feeding skated over, but Health Canada spends more time discussing the benefits of bovine-based formula over soy-based formula than it does on the Ten Steps from the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, an Initiative that is essential to boost and maintain breastfeeding rates in maternity wards.





Come on Health Canada! Doctors receive little to no breastfeeding training during their time in med school. If you are lucky like me, you find a doctor who did his residency in a breastfeeding clinic (and still needs some of the finer points explained to him). Doctors and nurses in Canada turn to Health Canada for their information on infant nutrition, and aside from people in my lucky situation, most doctors still believe that formula is an equal alternative to mommy milk, and shoddy documents like this do nothing to inform them of risks and facts about formula, which can then be passed to new moms. So, in light of this ridiculous oversight of real formula facts, and the (very mild) explanation of what formula is, I will give you an exposition on what formula is NOT. Much of the credit for this list goes to several lovely ladies from the facebook page, “Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding Is Not Obscene!” (namely, Elizabeth Anthes, Stephanie Knapp Muir, Jo Slamen, Emma Locker, Karen Coffman, Murielle Bourbao, Jennifer Dunston Lane, Kasey-Louise Traynor, Nicky Lawrence, Cheryl Giovenco, Barbara Rail, Lucy Fensom, and the lovely Alison Kennedy. Thanks ladies!)



1. Formula is not sterile.



Ever heard E. Sakazakii? It’s a pathogen commonly found in infant formula that can cause major illness for the baby if formula is not prepared properly. It is essential that all bottles, nipples, and equipment be sterilized before every feed, and that boiling water is used to make the infant formula. It’s not enough that the water be “sterile”, like the companies who make those huge containers of sterile water would lead you to believe. The water needs to be hot enough at the time you prepare the bottle to kill off potential pathogens like E. Sakazakii. This leads us to point two.



2. Formula is not convenient



For those of us breastfeeding moms who have supplemented or used formula at any point, we fully understand the truth of this statement. It is a million times easier to NOT have to get up, walk to the kitchen, boil the water (to kill the E. Sakazakii), prepare the formula, and then rush back to the baby, while all the while he is shrieking at the top of his lungs to be fed. Nor is it easier to haul all the paraphernalia associated with formula-feeding. The bottles, the sterilizer, the container of powder (oh damn, it spilled AGAIN), not to mention where oh where in this stupid mall can I find a place to boil my water? Oh shoot, we’ve been here for 7 hours, and the pre-mixed formula I made is only good for 30 minutes at room temperature! I forgot my miniature cooler! (http://www.nestle.ca/en/FAQ/baby_nutrition_faqs.htm) It is so much easier, once the initial bumps of learning are past, to just roll over, pop out a breast, and go back to sleep, or to find a seat (or stand, if you are talented), lift your shirt slightly, and latch baby.

To read the entire article click HERE
 

Infant Formula: It's not "Good Enough"

Before the  formula lynch mob hangs me for the following comment, I just want to say something:  This is not about guilt.  This is not about trying to make mothers who've used formula feel guilty.  If you want to debate the "Guilt Issue" go read my article "Breastfeeding: guilt, statistics, support, and making a choice"   and then we'll talk.  This is not about feeling guilty for using infant formula. This is about not having to "choose" to use infant formula. This is about actually having a choice and making the best choice for your baby and your family.

When breastfeeding is difficult, or when it goes terribly wrong, it can be absolutely devastating for mother and baby.  Mothers who have done their research and made the choice to exclusively breastfeed their babies already know that "breast is best", they know that breastfeeding is NORMAL.  More importantly they know about the risks associated with feeding your baby infant formulas. So when nature throws moms a curve and forces them to have to rely on something other than their own breasts to nourish their child, it can be completely overwhelming.

The first thing moms need to do is to get professional help.  See a certified  Lactation Consultant/IBCLC to try to work through the problem:  Is it a poor latch?  Why is baby's latch not good enough?  Is baby tongue tied?  Does mother simply need help with positioning?  For most situations if you fix the latch you fix the supply problems.

But what if the problem isn't so easily fixed?  What if the problem is one that is unfixable?  What then?  Babies need to be fed and when the mother is not able to produce enough milk to exclusively breastfeed, then they have to turn to another source of nutrition. Up until the last 60 or 70 years, the natural thing to do would be to use donor milk or a wet nurse- whether it was your sister, cousin, aunt, mother, friend or another local mother who was already breastfeeding her own baby.  Mother to Mother milk sharing and tribal nursing was so common that is was the accepted method of feeding babies who needed milk.

Now of course we are living in the era of commercially prepared infant formulas.  "Wet nursing" is a word that's fallen out of fashion and tribal nursing, if done at all, is done behind closed doors.  Now if a mother is unable to produce enough breastmilk the medical machine automatically hands her a can of formula and sends her on her way. WHY? Why formula instead of donated breastmilk?  Because infant formula is a huge industry and pays out millions of dollars in advertising and promotions, sponsors medical associations and medical schools, buys doctors fancy briefcases and sports cars, sends hospital executives on Caribbean cruises and gives maternity wards thousands of cans of their product to use and give away.  Money talks, and "Breastmilk" doesn't have any executives to pay off government officials to use their products.

Up until the 1980's there were breastmilk banks scattered all over North America to facilitate the feeding of preterm and fragile infants in hospital NICUs.  Then came the AIDs scare and the vast majority of milk banks closed their doors- leaving just 10 banks in the US and one lonely milk bank in Canada. I plan on doing some investigating into the closure of these milk banks because I'm a firm believer that money talks and if doors were closed, then someone somewhere told them to close and paid for them to stay that way. There is only one industry that stood to gain anything from the closure of breastmilk banks.  Call me a conspiracy theorist, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I'm going to call it a duck.

Recently the Canadian (and US) governments have been talking about the need for Breastmilk Banks, about how vitally necessary breastmilk is to our most fragile citizens.  Dr. Sharon Unger was quoted in The Toronto Star in November as saying:

“We’ve long, long, long wanted a milk bank in Ontario,” says Dr. Sharon Unger, a Mount Sinai neonatologist.
“Our hope is that we would supply milk to all of Ontario, so we’d have depot sites or collection sites throughout the province and we’d be a central processing plant,” says Unger, who is medical director of Toronto’s Milk Bank Initiative.
The group is currently in negotiations with the provincial health ministry to fund the project. Unger says a final price tag has not been determined, but that it would be a multi-million-dollar venture.
“It does of course cost more to process human milk than cow’s milk,” she says.

...and as I said at the time:

Applause, yes applause.  It's a wonderful thing that the media has jumped on the band wagon and is making public announcements like this, I mean,  any publicity is good publicity KWIM? Horray for Breastmilk!
But I have to admit that it irks me.  Mothers and Doctors, like Dr. Jack Newman, have been crying out for Milk Banks for Years- YEARS!!!! Not only that, but Canada does have a Milk Bank in Vancouver BC... a milk bank that they have been trying to close down for years!!  I wrote an article on the topic just a couple of months ago: Canada Needs Milk Banks!!!

And I still agree, We NEED milk banks!!!  But you know what? If we wait around for the government to get off their bureaucratic asses to build even ONE milk bank.... I'll probably already be a grandmother!!!  And when we get milk banks, will they help the babies that are healthy but need milk?  Will they give milk to mothers with low supply?  Adoptive mothers?  Mothers with babies that have special needs like Anaya? NO, they won't.

So we return to the original topic:  What if the mother isn't able to exclusively breastfeed?  What if she has low supply? What if the problem isn't so easily fixed?  What if the problem is one that is unfixable?  What then? Up until recently your only choice would of been feeding your baby infant formula.  Not much of a choice is it?

Now  you can choose to feed your baby donated human milk.  Mothers have had enough of waiting for the bureaucrats and money grubbers to build milk banks.  Now mothers have taken back their autonomy and are supporting other women and families.  Milk Sharing is the wave of the future.  Milk sharing is making a difference and helping families and babies.  And Human Milk 4 Human Babies is leading the way!!!

Here is another amazing story of one mothers struggle to breastfeed her baby and how milk sharing made a huge difference in her life!!!




Ruby's  Story
By Kim Parent

"I can’t remember when I made the decision to breastfeed my daughter – I just know that not breastfeeding never occurred to me. There were many compelling reasons to nurse, including cost, health benefits, and convenience. My partner and I collected books about breastfeeding during pregnancy and we educated ourselves about the subject. I learned what myths and traps to look out for, and prepared myself to stand up against the well-meaning medical staff who might want to supplement my baby with formula. Fortunately I had a trouble-free birthing experience.

However, within the first week it became obvious that something wasn’t right. Ruby would not keep her latch for more than a minute or two. She would unlatch, crying and screaming, over and over again. After several tearful days, we called an IBCLC. She was finally able to tell me why my daughter was so upset: I have breast hypoplasia, also known as IGT (insufficient glandular tissue). Hypoplastic breasts never fully develop, and they lack an adequate amount of milk-producing mammary glands. I was heartbroken.

My lactation consultant wrote a plan of action that would hopefully allow me to increase my supply while supplementing my daughter. With great effort, I was able to approximately double my milk production, to a maximum of a few ounces per day - not nearly enough to meet Ruby’s needs. We were supplementing with approximately 20 ounces of formula per day. We were not prepared to accept that formula was “good enough”,  being fully aware of the risks associated with artificial feeding. We could see that her little body was having trouble digesting the formula. She was very constipated, and she would scream and cry for hours. We tried many different brands, but her symptoms were always the same. I turned to my lactation consultant for advice on donated breast milk.

In all of Canada, there is only one milk bank, located in Vancouver, BC. Currently they cannot keep up with the demands of their own NICU. Even if there was enough milk available, the cost can easily be prohibitive. At $1.25 per ounce (which is much less than the cost of banked milk in the U.S.), it would cost us at least $750 per month to feed Ruby exclusively breast milk.

For our family, the answer was informed, mother-to-mother milk donation, not unlike wet nursing. We found several online resources to facilitate this, including the Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network on Facebook. Thanks to fifteen generous women, my daughter has received thousands of ounces of breast milk. She has not had a drop of formula in over three months! She is a different baby now – no more colic, spitting up, or constipation. She is hitting all of her developmental milestones and is just a radiantly beautiful and happy little girl. I still grieve the exclusive breastfeeding relationship that I had planned to have with her. However, I finally feel confident that she is receiving the best nutrition that I can possibly provide for her. I am eternally grateful to the amazing families who have helped us and for the support I have received from those around me.

Ruby at 3 weeks old

Ruby at 3 weeks old - at this point she had been supplemented with formula for over 2 weeks

Ruby at 3 months

Ruby at 3 months old, exclusively breastfed!

At 6 months old- exclusively breastfed!

A beautiful healthy Ruby at 6 months old!!

INFACT Canada: Health Canada's advisory lacks scientific basis

Mother’s milk and safe milk sharing: Health Canada’s advisory lacks scientific basis

December 7, 2010

The recent media focus on the mothers’ movement Eats on Feets has resulted in a Health Canada advisory warning mothers against the use of another mother’s milk unless it comes from a donor milk bank.

Health Canada’s advisory raises some important questions about the lack of scientific basis for their claims regarding the “risks” of human milk sharing.
The Health Canada advisory flies in the face of the recommendations by both UNICEF and the World Health Organization, that when a mother is unable to provide her own breastmilk, the milk of another mother is safer than the use of an infant formula. These principles are outlined in the World Health Organization and UNICEF Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding and the Baby-Friendly Initiative. Although these initiatives were endorsed by Health Canada, why are these important principles now deemed “risky”?

Health Canada claims

There is a potential risk that the milk may be contaminated with viruses such as HIV or bacteria which can cause food poisoning, such as Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, traces of substances such as prescription and non-prescription drugs can be transmitted through human milk. Improper hygiene when extracting the milk, as well as improper storage and handling, could also cause the milk to spoil or be contaminated with bacteria and/or viruses that may cause illness.

When mothers need a breastmilk replacement how does Health Canada consider the use of commercial infant formula products to be safer that the use of peer-to-peer informed milk sharing?
INFACT Canada is concerned that the Health Canada warning will dissuade mothers from providing human milk for their infants and encourage the use of commercial infant formula. The other alternative when mothers need a replacement for their own milk is the use of commercially produced infant formula. The risks associated with the use of infant formula products have been well documented. Mothers aware of these risks do not wish to expose their infants to such risks. These include increased prevalence of a range of infectious diseases and health conditions – ear infections, gastrointestinal infections respiratory infections, necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis, meningitis, diabetes, childhood cancers, obesity, allergies – formula fed infants grow and develop differently from breastmilk fed infants, including cognitive and neural development.
While implying that formula is a preferable alternative to shared human milk, Health Canada fails to inform mothers that the risk of contamination by lethal and dangerous bacteria may exist in all powdered infant formula currently marketed in Canada. Has Health Canada warned parents that tins of powdered infant formula are not sterile and may contain Enterobacter sakazakii, a virulent and highly pathogenic contaminant that can lead to serious infections causing meningitis, necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis and even death? Has Health Canada mandated that infant formula labels have warnings about the lack of sterility and that products must be carefully reconstituted at 70 degrees C to destroy the lethal Enterobacter sakazakii as recommended by the World Health Organization?
Additionally the Health Canada warning does not address the presence of the bacterium Salmonella species, a major cause for gastrointestinal infections, present in powdered infant formula. Should parents not be informed of the rather frequent recalls of infant formula products – the most recent for the presence of beetle parts in the formula? Furthermore there are many industrial contaminants found in infant formula such as heavy metals, plasticizers, including the plastic BPS present in concentrated formula.
Infant formula does not have the immunological constituents to alleviate against the risk of the built-in microbiological contaminants and the bacterial and viral contaminants related to formula preparation, handling, storage and feeding.
Health Canada’s advisory does not provide mothers with the information needed about the safe peer-to-peer informed sharing of milk. Nor does Health Canada provide access for mothers to the donor milk from milk banks that it deems safe and acceptable.
Currently there is only one milk bank in Canada at the BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre in Vancouver. Donor milk from the BC Milk Bank has very limited access and is available on prescription only for high needs infants.
Although Health Canada’s policy statements recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life and sustained breastfeeding to two years and beyond, adequate support systems need to be in place for mothers to achieve optimal breastfeeding practices. Mothers need to be able to access supplementary human milk for their infants for the full recommended time that infants and young children require human milk for optimal health, growth and development. A variety of social, cultural, health or economic reasons may necessitate that mothers have access to human milk in order to achieve this.
Mothers who wish to provide only human milk for their infants have no other means to access human milk than to establish their own method of safe milk sharing. Eats on Feets is a community-based movement of mothers meeting the needs of their infants based on a health screened and informed decision making process. Importantly many women have more than enough milk and have a deep desire to share with mothers and infants needing their milk.

Conclusions

Assessing and analyzing the risks (see ANNEX) of peer-to-peer informed milk sharing demonstrates the risks to be negligible. Peer-to-peer informed milk sharing is by far the safer means to provide replacement feeding when mothers own milk is unavailable.

However the risks of feeding infant formula to infants are well documented. Many mothers do not wish to expose their infants to the increased risks of infectious diseases, chronic diseases and growth and development anomalies, which have lifelong implications.
INFACT Canada urges Health Canada to provide guidelines to address the need for mothers who wish to donate their life giving milk to mothers who know this to be critically important for the health and well-being of their infants. Health Canada must recognize that informed milk sharing is not “dangerous” and must recognize that the alternative of using infant formula comes with a long list of documented negative consequences.
INFACT Canada urges Health Canada to facilitate a milk banking system across Canada that will provide full access for all mothers who wish to donate their milk and to mothers who need to make use of donated milk beyond the current limited “on prescription only.”
INFACT Canada urges Health Canada to establish centres where mothers can go to have their milk screened so they can feel comfortable and confident sharing their milk. As well Health Canada should review the capacity of blood banks to also screen human milk.
INFACT Canada urges Health Canada to provide the necessary funding and programme leadership to improve support systems for the establishment of lactation in the early weeks and months to help mothers overcome difficulties they may encounter.
Mothers need effective support systems to achieve the Health Canada recommendations for exclusive and sustained breastfeeding to ensure the highest attainable standard of health for their children. We will all benefit.

Elisabeth Sterken, MSc, RD
Executive Director
INFACT Canada
esterken@infactcanada.ca

With thanks to:
Jennifer Abbass Dick RN, BNSc, MN, PhD student, IBCLC, RLC
Linda Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC, FILCA for their helpful comments.

ANNEX

It is important to compare the perceived risks and dangers of peer-to-peers informed milk sharing to the risks of providing infant formula as a replacement for a mothers own milk.

Peer-to-peer informed milk sharing

Viral and microbiological risks

• Mothers are screened and share their health data.
• The numbers of Canadian women of child bearing age who are HIV+ are few.
• The probability of an HIV+ mother, who has given birth, breastfeeds and donates her milk, is highly improbable. Moreover HIV+ mothers receive anti-retro-virals which significantly reduce the viral count.
• Human milk contains a multitude of complex antiviral and immune substances demonstrated to inactivate viruses such as HIV and reduce microbiological contaminants.
• Providing human milk exclusively is the best protection against viral and bacterial contaminants passing via the infant gut. Human milk provides a protective layer in the infant gut. It is in fact the introduction of infant formula into the infant gut that creates the risk of transmission. Mixed feeding of formula and human milk has been shown to be the greatest risk for viral transmission. The cow’s milk proteins in infant formula are a cause of gut damage providing a passage for viral (HIV, hepatitis B and C, HTLV 1 and 2, syphilus) and bacterial contaminants.
• Mothers can flash pasteurize donated milk to ensure that there are no viral or bacterial contaminants.(ref: Israel-Ballard K, Donovan R, Chantry C, Coutsoudis A, Sheppard H, Sibeko L, Abrams B. (2007). Flash-heat inactivation of HIV-1 in human milk: a potential method to reduce postnatal transmission in developing countries. J Acquir Immun Defic Syndr. 45: 318-23.)

Passage of prescription and non prescription drugs

• There are very few drugs that are contra-indicated during lactation. Most drugs do not enter her milk.
• Eats on Feets advises mothers on how to screens donors for prescription and non prescription substances.
• If a mother is breastfeeding her own child she will be aware of any contra-indicated substances. If her milk is safe for her own child it will be safe for the child she is donating her milk to.

Improper hygiene, storage and handling

• Human milk is the most effective and efficient protection against microbial contaminants. It contains, IgA, IgM, IgG, IgE, IgD factors, lactoferrins, lysozymes, oligosaccharides, immunoglobulins, interferon, mucins, bifidus factors, to name a few and many as yet undiscovered factors. It takes a lot to “spoil” human milk.
• Mothers are aware of the normal principles of hygiene, storage and handling.
• INFACT Canada • info@infactcanada.ca

Concern Raised by Health Canada's Press release- Milk Sharing

Concerns raised by Health Canada’s press release (issued Nov. 25, 2010)

by Emma Kwasnica on Friday, 26 November 2010 at 17:48

Health Canada Press Release can be found here: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/_2010/2010_202-eng.php


Health Canada is not supporting Canadian mothers in its recommendations issued yesterday. The question is raised as to why Health Canada is advising women to use only processed breastmilk from a milk bank, especially when there is only one milk bank for all of Canada, and that the milk there is reserved for only the sickest premature babies. Health Canada has not, and is not, offering women guidelines and information that support milk sharing, and overtly states in the press release that Canadian women should not share their breastmilk.

Furthermore, the press release issued yesterday contradicts Health Canada's current policy. In 2004, Health Canada recommended exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age, and specifically refers to their goal of aligning with the WHO's policy on infant health. The Health Canada recommendation defines exclusive breastfeeding as: "Exclusive breastfeeding, based on the WHO definition [5], refers to the practice of feeding only breast milk (including expressed breast milk) and allows the baby to receive vitamins, minerals or medicine. Water, breast milk substitutes, other liquids and solid foods are excluded."
Exclusive Breastfeeding Duration - 2004 Health Canada Recommendation
ISBN: 0-662-37809-1Cat. No.: H44-73/2004E-HTMLHC Pub. No.: 4824© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada 2004

The WHO's definition of exclusive breastfeeding includes wet-nursing and using expressed (unprocessed) donor milk from another woman (when a woman's own breastmilk is not available). Therefore, Canadian mothers using other mothers' milk should not only be an acceptable option to Health Canada, but the preferred option over using infant formula.

From page 10 of the WHO document entitled 'Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding' (http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2003/9241562218.pdf), under the heading "Exercising other feeding options", it states:

18. The vast majority of mothers can and should breastfeed, just as the
vast majority of infants can and should be breastfed. Only under
exceptional circumstances can a mother’s milk be considered unsuitablefor her infant. For those few health situations where infantscannot, or should not, be breastfed, the choice of the bestalternative – expressed breast milk from an infant’s own mother,breast milk from a healthy wet-nurse or a human-milk bank, or abreast-milk substitute fed with a cup, which is a safer method thana feeding bottle and teat – depends on individual circumstances.

19. For infants who do not receive breast milk, feeding with a suitable
breast-milk substitute – for example an infant formula prepared in
accordance with applicable Codex Alimentarius standards, or a
home-prepared formula with micronutrient supplements – should
be demonstrated only by health workers, or other community workers
if necessary, and only to the mothers and other family members
who need to use it; and the information given should include adequate
instructions for appropriate preparation and the health hazards
of inappropriate preparation and use. Infants who are not
breastfed, for whatever reason, should receive special attention from
the health and social welfare system since they constitute a risk
group.


Since banked (processed) human milk is not available to the vast majority of Canadian mothers, and the press release issued yesterday recommends against using another woman's breastmilk, one is left to infer that Health Canada is recommending formula as the next best option to a mother's own breastmilk. This is unacceptable and completely contravenes the WHO recommendations, as well as Health Canada’s own policy on infant feeding.

Yesterday's press release also included concern over pharmaceuticals in breastmilk; this warning is also in direct contrast with Health Canada's own statement on pharmaceuticals and breastfeeding, here:

(i) Drugs. Most prescription and over-the-counter drugs are minimally excreted through breast milk and are pharmacokinetically benign to the infant. 

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/pubs/infant-nourrisson/nut_infant_nourrisson_term_3-eng.php


Finally, the press release refers to concerns about food poisoning related to pathogens that might be introduced to breastmilk while being expressed or after it has been expressed. This aspect of your advisory needs to be clarified immediately. Tens of thousands of women in Canada express breastmilk from their breasts and place it in containers and store it in coolers and refrigerators and freezers for later consumption by their own babies. Are you now recommending against this practice?

Health Canada says it is committed to food safety. Every year recommendations for Canadians on preparing turkey for safe consumption are issued.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/kitchen-cuisine/turkey-dinde-eng.php
You do not recommend that Canadians not share their turkey. You provide Canadians with safe turkey preparation guidelines in order to help ensure the safety of the people consuming their turkey dinners.

If you must recommend anything to Canadian woman about the practice of sharing milk, which is a food, please recommend evidence-based procedures for them to follow for the safe sharing of human milk. Do not hesitate to contact me should you require further information on this topic.

Sincerely,
Emma Kwasnica, in Montreal

Official Press Release: Eats on Feets: GLOBAL milk sharing!

This is the official press release that is hitting the Australia and Oceania media right this very minute!!!  Eats on Feets has officially been launched GLOBALLY!!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :


CONTACT :
Emma Kwasnica
Eats On Feets GLOBAL
(514) 656 1560
Montreal, CANADA
http://www.facebook.com/emma.kwasnica
emma.kwasnica@gmail.com



World's Largest Breast Milk Sharing Network Spreads Across Facebook: "Eats On Feets" Goes Global

Within a matter of days, women around the world have mobilized on the social networking site Facebook to organize an international, woman-to-woman milk sharing network. Human milk is for human babies, and formula-feeding is associated with risks to both the mother and infant. Women today are aware of this fact and are taking their life-sustaining power back into their own hands --they are now converging on Facebook to freely share their breastmilk with one another.

Montreal, Canada, November 7, 2010 - The announcement last month from internet health guru, Dr. Joseph Mercola, of his plans to launch his own brand of powdered infant formula onto the US market, has spawned the Eats On Feets GLOBAL breastmilk sharing network. In retaliation against yet another needless and harmful artificial breastmilk substitute to hit the market, mothers on Facebook from around the world have come together to take a stand for infant health. They have now established the world's largest human milk sharing network, an initiative spearheaded by Canadian lactating mother and passionate breastfeeding activist, Emma Kwasnica.

The "Eats On Feets" name is the brainchild of Phoenix, AZ midwife, Shell Walker. A mother to young children in the '90s, Walker and her friends had this thought: "Hey, why don't we just become wet-nurses? Instead of 'Meals on Wheels', we can call our business 'Eats On Feets'." Walker took this idea and made it a reality in July, 2010, when she created a Facebook profile page under the same name, and began a free, community-based breastmilk sharing network for mothers in Phoenix. She has since been successful at matching up local women who have an excess, or are in need of, human breastmilk.

Meanwhile, Kwasnica has also been using her personal profile page and her large network of international birth and breastfeeding activists on Facebook, in order to match up human milk donors and recipients around the world. One such story involves a fellow Canadian friend, living in Bandung, Indonesia; the school teacher and single father to a newborn son wondered if he could source human milk for his baby instead of feeding his son a powdered breastmilk substitute. Aware of his situation, Kwasnica put the call out to her vast network via a simple status update on Facebook, and a breastfeeding peer counselor in a neighbouring city in Indonesia responded. A string of lactating women on the ground was assembled to provide human milk locally for the infant boy. Now three months old, this baby has never tasted anything other than human milk.

The announcement of Dr. Mercola's plans to market formula was the final catalyst that spurred Emma Kwasnica on to convene with Shell Walker and launch Eats On Feets GLOBAL. Regarding the inception of this initiative, she states: "Shell Walker is a friend and the midwife in Phoenix, AZ who came up with the name 'Eats On Feets'. She graciously allowed me to use her catchy name in order to launch the global initiative: a woman-to-woman, grassroots milk sharing network here on Facebook. As for Dr. Mercola, he should be injecting his burgeoning wealth into breastfeeding support, not trying to make more money off a product that is harmful to infants and their lifelong health."

With the help of nearly 200 women online from the global mothering Facebook community, the initiative has taken off. Donor and recipient milk matches are being made right now all over the world on the pages of Facebook. There are now 87 Eats On Feets chapter pages spanning 18 countries (a quick Facebook search for "Eats On Feets" yields dozens of results). This movement is proof that Facebook can, indeed, be used for the good of humanity. By encouraging the biologically normal way of feeding babies, and reviving an age-old practice of human milk sharing, it is clear that social networking has the power to revolutionize infant health.



ABOUT Eats On Feets GLOBAL - The Eats On Feets GLOBAL network chapter pages on Facebook provide an online space to facilitate woman-to-woman milk sharing. We assert that women are capable of making informed choices and of sharing human milk with one another in a safe and ethical manner. Eats On Feets GLOBAL does NOT support the selling or corporatism of human breastmilk.

For a current list of all of the Eats On Feets chapter locations in operation around the globe, or to find your local Eats On Feets Facebook chapter page, please see this document at the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/EatsOnFeetsGLOBAL

To listen to the radio show podcast (from October 30) where Emma Kwasnica discusses the events that lead to the launch of Eats On Feets GLOBAL, and how the ethics of Dr. Mercola were the catalyst for this initiative, visit: http://kopn.org/archive and click on "Momma Rap".

Australia and Breastfeeding/milk sharing in the news!

Here are two of the latest news stories out of Australia- both mention "eats on feets" and openly talk about milk sharing, cross nursing and wet nursing!

The first is an article from News.com.au - The Herald Nov 2 2010

Women are now offering on the internet to donate their milk or "cross-nurse" - breastfeed babies other than their own - in a bid to help desperate mums in need.
Breastmilk is just a keystroke away after Eats on Feets, an international breastmilk-sharing network, recently started a Victorian Facebook site....
...The Australian Breastfeeding Association says it supports cross-feeding if all parties are aware of possible risks and informed consent is given. "Wet nursing was very common hundreds of years ago," ABA spokeswoman Carey Wood said. She said breastmilk banks offered milk screening. The AMA said the risk of contracting disease from breastmilk was low.

HERE to read the entire article

And below is a you tube video of a news story aired today featuring one of my Facebook friends April Bevin.

babies/story-e6frfkvr-1225946429177#ixzz149IiB0Nj