Are you interested in donating breastmilk?
Some breastfeeding mums find that they are blessed with an ample supply of breastmilk. Many of these mums like to donate this precious life-saving commodity to a local milk bank where it can be screened and prepared for pre-term and seriously ill babies.
Obviously strict criteria must be applied to donated milk; in order to donate your breastmilk you will have to have blood screening tests to ensure you are healthy since undesirable viruses are sometimes present in breastmilk.
Although some people might be inclined to view the practice of feeding donated breastmilk to someone else’s baby as rather distasteful or just plain strange, it was common practice in bygone days, and is a lifesaver when babies are ill and their own mums are unable to breastfeed.
In the past the upper classes used so-called wet nurses to feed their young babies. (In other words, they employed poorer women to breastfeed their babies for them.) This was very common amongst royalty - proving that the concept of feeding breastmilk to someone else's baby is not such a new practice after all.
Surely it is preferable to help a sick baby rather than dispose of such a precious liquid.
If donating to a milk bank is something that interests you, ask your health visitor or a breastfeeding counsellor for your local milk bank contact details.