WSJ.com - Mothers Who Share Breast Milk
As of Tuesday, January 4, 2005
By SARA SCHAEFER MUÑOZ
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 4, 2005; Page D1
"Amid mounting evidence of the health benefits of breast-feeding for infants, a movement is quietly growing among parents: sharing or even selling breast milk. The idea is to provide milk for adoptive mothers and women who cannot nurse because of illness or some other reason. Instead of turning solely to infant formula to feed their children, these women are tapping into informal networks of friends, acquaintances and in some cases strangers found on the Internet. While there are milk banks where parents can purchase donated breast milk that has been pasteurized and screened for disease, infants who are very sick and cannot nurse get priority. In addition, banks require a doctor's prescription, and the milk can be very expensive -- about $100 a day...."
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
MercuryNews.com | 12/28/2004 | Mothers' milk may hold promise for ill adults
SOME FIND BENEFITS FOR CANCER, OTHER SERIOUS DISEASES
By Barbara Feder Ostrov, Mercury News
"Breast milk isn't just for babies at the Mothers' Milk Bank in San Jose, which quietly offers it to adults with cancer and other serious illnesses to ease their symptoms. The milk bank is one of just six in the United States. It distributes donated breast milk primarily to premature and low-birth-weight babies. However, it also will provide breast milk to adults with a doctor's prescription. Adult use of breast milk is rare, according to Pauline Sakamoto of the milk bank in San Jose, which has served 28 adult patients in the past four years. Adults with cancer, digestive disorders and immune disorders may drink several ounces of milk daily or weekly to ease the ravages of chemotherapy, bolster their immune systems and improve their digestion, she said. No national figures exist for adult use of breast milk, but an informal survey of the nation's milk banks suggest that they currently serve dozens of adult patients...."
SOME FIND BENEFITS FOR CANCER, OTHER SERIOUS DISEASES
By Barbara Feder Ostrov, Mercury News
"Breast milk isn't just for babies at the Mothers' Milk Bank in San Jose, which quietly offers it to adults with cancer and other serious illnesses to ease their symptoms. The milk bank is one of just six in the United States. It distributes donated breast milk primarily to premature and low-birth-weight babies. However, it also will provide breast milk to adults with a doctor's prescription. Adult use of breast milk is rare, according to Pauline Sakamoto of the milk bank in San Jose, which has served 28 adult patients in the past four years. Adults with cancer, digestive disorders and immune disorders may drink several ounces of milk daily or weekly to ease the ravages of chemotherapy, bolster their immune systems and improve their digestion, she said. No national figures exist for adult use of breast milk, but an informal survey of the nation's milk banks suggest that they currently serve dozens of adult patients...."
Monday, December 27, 2004
CBS News | How To Train Baby To Fall Asleep | December 27, 2004?11:31:55
How To Train Baby To Fall Asleep
NEW YORK, Dec. 27, 2004
("CBS) Parents of infants know all too well how frustrating it can be when their babies can't drift off to sleep without wailing. Multiply the impact by the number of times infants naturally wake up during the night, and you wind up with parents whose nerves need a break. But you can actually train your newborn to go to sleep, and Parents magazine Senior Editor Diane Debrovner offered tips on how. ..."
[This is one of those horrifying articles that recommends: - letting babies as young as 3 months old cry for 30 -40 minutes, and warns that if you give in at that time, it "will only teach him to continue crying." If the infant vomits after crying so much, you're told to clean up the mess, kiss the child, and keep trying the "sleep training." The only breastfeeding mention is to note that breastfed babies wake up more during the night because they are hungrier. What's alarming is the article is written by a senior editor of "Parent" magazine. - JC]
How To Train Baby To Fall Asleep
NEW YORK, Dec. 27, 2004
("CBS) Parents of infants know all too well how frustrating it can be when their babies can't drift off to sleep without wailing. Multiply the impact by the number of times infants naturally wake up during the night, and you wind up with parents whose nerves need a break. But you can actually train your newborn to go to sleep, and Parents magazine Senior Editor Diane Debrovner offered tips on how. ..."
[This is one of those horrifying articles that recommends: - letting babies as young as 3 months old cry for 30 -40 minutes, and warns that if you give in at that time, it "will only teach him to continue crying." If the infant vomits after crying so much, you're told to clean up the mess, kiss the child, and keep trying the "sleep training." The only breastfeeding mention is to note that breastfed babies wake up more during the night because they are hungrier. What's alarming is the article is written by a senior editor of "Parent" magazine. - JC]
Friday, December 24, 2004
244 grams baby endures
"CHICAGO (AP) — A premature infant believed to be the smallest baby ever to survive was called “a great blessing” by her mother, who is preparing to take the little girl and her twin sister home from the hospital.
The baby, named Rumaisa, weighed 244 grams — less than a can of soda — when she was delivered by Caesarean section September 19 at Loyola University Medical Center. That is 37 grams smaller than the previous record holder, who was born at the same hospital in 1989, according to hospital spokeswoman Sandra Martinez. ...
Dr. Jonathan Muraskas, a professor of neonatal-perinatal medicine, said several factors may have improved the babies’ chances of survival. Babies born before 23 weeks do not have fully developed lungs and are usually not viable, but those born before the 25th week can survive. Muraskas said girls are also more likely to survive than boys when born at less than 368.5 grams , and the twins could have been helped by their mother’s health problems. “Sometimes, when babies are stressed in utero, that can accelerate maturity,” he said. Muraskas said the twins were placed on ventilators for a few weeks and fed intravenously for a week or two until nurses could give them breast milk through feeding tubes..."
"CHICAGO (AP) — A premature infant believed to be the smallest baby ever to survive was called “a great blessing” by her mother, who is preparing to take the little girl and her twin sister home from the hospital.
The baby, named Rumaisa, weighed 244 grams — less than a can of soda — when she was delivered by Caesarean section September 19 at Loyola University Medical Center. That is 37 grams smaller than the previous record holder, who was born at the same hospital in 1989, according to hospital spokeswoman Sandra Martinez. ...
Dr. Jonathan Muraskas, a professor of neonatal-perinatal medicine, said several factors may have improved the babies’ chances of survival. Babies born before 23 weeks do not have fully developed lungs and are usually not viable, but those born before the 25th week can survive. Muraskas said girls are also more likely to survive than boys when born at less than 368.5 grams , and the twins could have been helped by their mother’s health problems. “Sometimes, when babies are stressed in utero, that can accelerate maturity,” he said. Muraskas said the twins were placed on ventilators for a few weeks and fed intravenously for a week or two until nurses could give them breast milk through feeding tubes..."
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