Milk Sharing on Kape at Balita

Early this morning, I dropped by Kape at Balita to talk about Human Milk for Human Babies - The Philippines.  HM4HB - The Philippines is part of an international group from 52 countries with the purpose of fostering community between local families who have chosen to share breastmilk.

The community provides a space - where donors and recipients can come together to benefit from each other.  No breastfeeding advice is given and HM4HB - The Philippines does not match up donors with recipients nor do they mediate conflicts.  More importantly, breastmilk offered in the page is always offered for free - never for sale or for barter.  You can read more FAQs here.

I started the Philippine page back in 2010.  I started it because I had been receiving emails from moms who were either looking for milk or had excess milk.  When HM4HB started, I immediately signed the Philippines up.  Again, because the page is simply a space, it is the responsibility of the donor and recipient to contact each other - the page is not responsible for the outcome of any milk sharing agreements.  The page is now being administered by myself and 2 other breastfeeding mothers - Raquel and Rona who have generously given their time to repost milk offers and milk requests on the page.

I love to talk about breastfeeding.  Sharing a clip of my interview this morning about milk sharing, LATCH and breastfeeding. I could go on and on! ;)


Update:

For those asking why there is a clip of a child drinking fortified milk.... interview at the show was supposed to include milk company representatives and it was supposed to be a "debate". They decided not to invite milk people at the last minute. I informed them that showing the fortified milk clip was inappropriate and they realized their error as there was interview flow was changed. They apologized and said that they know now better.

For those asking where I got my information about HIV and breastmilk, check this link from the CDC - http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/faq/index.htm

HIV and other serious infectious diseases can be transmitted through breast milk. However, the risk of infection from a single bottle of breast milk, even if the mother is HIV positive, is extremely small. For women who do not have HIV or other serious infectious diseases, there is little risk to the child who receives her breast milk.

If you want to be extra careful when receiving donor's milk, a simple home pasteurization works http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/picking-source-of-babys-milk/ --->"Dr. Landers suggested new parents also consider flash-heating donor milk, a technique that can inactivate H.I.V. and destroy bacteria while retaining much of the milk’s nutritional and antimicrobial properties and important antibodies."