The controversy over milk bank donations to Haiti's babies

  Jacmel, Haiti (AP Photo/Ryan Remiorz, The Canadian Press)

Earlier this week, a call went out across the U.S. asking for nursing mothers to donate extra breast milk to feed orphaned, sick or premature  babies left vulnerable by the earthquake in Haiti. But now, experts are cautioning that the donations are not needed, or even worse, causing a diversion of resources that should be used to help victims.

The call for breast milk donations

Bloggers and news reporters around the U.S. sent out an urgent request for lactating women to donate their milk.  The collected milk was to be sent to a U.S. Navy ship assisting rescue efforts in Haiti, the "Comfort."

No facilities to handle more breast milk donations

The problem arose when rescue personnel on the ground in Haiti realized that there were no more facilities to store donated milk, nor the infrastructure to distribute it to where it might be needed

Don't stop donating, just realize it isn't for Haiti

Despite the fact that rescue workers in Haiti can't utilize human breast milk donations right now, don't let that stop you from considering donating milk if you were thinking about it. There are plenty of premature, sick and orphaned babies in the U.S. and Canada that desperately need milk to help them survive and donations have recently been at a low supply level.

Other ways to help Haitian babies

The priority now, according to a joint press release by The Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), International Lactation Consultant Association/United States Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA/USLCA), and La Leche League International (LLLI), is helping mothers in Haiti feed or continue feeding their own infants with breast milk. This will help avoid malnutrition in these babies and avoid problems associated with finding uncontaminated water to make formula. The organizations UNICEF, Save the Children Alliance, World Vision, and Action Against Hunger have all been named as groups working on the ground in Haiti to assist nursing mothers to help them breast feed their infants. Monetary donations to these organizations will help Haitian mothers provide healthy breast milk to their children.

For more information on milk banks and donating breast milk to babies in need, see the article What is milk banking?

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