Breast milk banks becoming a thing of the past

CTV.com

By Jennifer Tryon, CTV News Food Specialist

"Nature's perfect food may have a flaw after all: There's not enough of it. Human breast milk is in high demand.

Every three weeks, two Fedex boxes full of food for eight-month-old Tai'o Clifford arrives at his family's home in Toronto. Dozens of little glass jars filled with a yellowish substance are packed with dry ice. The meals for a month don't come cheap.

"It probably costs in the neighbourhood of about $700 Cdn a week to feed him breast milk," says the baby's father, Ian Clifford.

"It's not cheap at all. It's the best possible food for a baby and we really hoped that it would be more available in Canada for the people who need it."

Canada has one human milk bank, located at B.C. Women's Hospital. The milk is available for sick and premature babies, and sometimes to parents who adopt. The milk bank relies on donations from mothers with too much milk or who are willing to pump." [Let's hope this news item can be a springboard for action - JC]