%0 Journal Article
%T Milk sharing: from private practice to public pursuit
%A James E Akre
%A Karleen D Gribble
%A Maureen Minchin
%J International Breastfeeding Journal
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1746-4358-6-8
%X We are watching with fascination, admiration and anxiety as mother-to-mother human-milk sharing goes global via the internet [1,2]. Fascination, because this ageless and largely private practice has suddenly burst into the public arena as a topic of unprecedented discussion, both amongst individuals, and in the popular media. Admiration, because it takes self-help and female solidarity to new heights, illustrating how women are innovating to tackle breast milk scarcity and deny infant formula its default-substitute status. Anxiety, because some public health authorities, notably in Canada, France and the USA, are condemning it out of hand [3-5].This contemporary variation on a practice that is as old as our species [2] warrants a closer look than that implied by a "just say no" summary dismissal. After only six months under the exclusive influence of mothers interacting with other mothers, internet-based milk sharing - as exemplified by two sites, Eats On Feets and Human Milk 4 Human Babies [2] - is already operating in nearly 50 countries. Both use Facebook to connect mothers under a commerce-free model in which milk is not bought and sold but is freely given. Well-informed and highly motivated women have begun extending control over the availability and use of human milk, and it is improbable they will be deterred by unsupportive or critical public health authorities. Indeed, they await no one's permission - the milk donors in ensuring the availability of milk for children other than their own, and the milk recipients in meeting the nutritional needs of children who would otherwise be fed artificially (i.e. with infant formula).In many settings breast milk and breastfeeding have been undervalued, and the nutritional merits and safety of infant formula exaggerated (for an in depth discussion of this issue see Hausman [6]). The result: infant formula is considered the "obvious" alternative to a mother's own milk. However, the international infant feeding recommendat
%U http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/6/1/8