13 reasons you should not ask for breastmilk from others

Breast milk is always the best source of nutrition for babies and children. However, some people experience not producing enough breast milk or not having milk. At this time, someone thinks about asking for breast milk. Is this job correct? In fact, there are 13 issues to consider when you want to breastfeed someone else's breast.

It is no coincidence that many nutrition experts advise women to breastfeed . In fact, breastmilk has a concentration of nutrients, helping children to strengthen their resistance and prevent many diseases. However, in some women, their situation is difficult to make milk or have a disease that cannot breastfeed because it will infect their baby. Even if you are in this situation, you should not ask for breast milk from someone else. Doing this may cause your child the following problems.

1. Asking for someone else's breastmilk may not be appropriate for your child's age

After the baby is born, the mother's body will secrete a precious flow of colostrum to build the immune system for the baby and help the baby not to be hungry when the mother's milk is not in time. Breast milk also changes according to the development of children to provide timely fats and nutrients needed in each stage. The mother's body always knows what her baby needs to promptly respond to the baby.

When you ask for or buy breast milk from someone else, you won't know exactly how old it is for your baby. If an infant drinks the milk of another mother who is nursing an 18-month-old baby, he / she will not get the same nutrients he / she needs when breastfeeding from her mother.

2. The other person's breastmilk may not be appropriate for your baby's gender

Researchers have found that the mother's body adjusts to the baby's sex. Several experiments on monkeys have shown that milk for boys contains more fat and protein, condensed milk and more nutritious. Girls' milk is more calcium and less fat.

Boys and girls develop very differently, so breast milk also needs to be adjusted to better suit the needs of the baby. This helps the baby develop better as well as stimulates the baby's bones and brain to develop in a direction that is more gender-appropriate.

If you ask for someone else's breastmilk, your baby will not have the right nutrients for their gender. Although the difference between milk for boys and girls is not great, but drinking breast milk that is not suitable for the sex of the baby has certain effects.

3. Your baby will not feel the connection with his mother

If you have a problem with low breast milk production, consult your doctor immediately. Your doctor will teach you a few ways to increase your baby's milk supply and help you breastfeed properly. This will benefit the health and psychology of both mother and baby.

When deciding to apply for breastmilk as soon as she knows she does not have milk, the mother feels that it is too difficult to breastfeed and that others will have better milk. This will cause both baby and mother to miss the opportunity to connect with each other through skin-to-skin contact . Baby and mother will not have the same strong bond as when breastfeeding.

While you can normally hug and caress your baby, when you breastfeed, you will spend more time in skin-to-skin contact with your baby. Breastfeeding also causes the mother's body to release the love hormone oxytocin. Dependence on other people's breast milk loses this natural bond of mother and child.

4. Another person's breast pump may not be properly sanitized

If the mother asks someone else to breastfeed her baby directly, this is not a concern. However, if you ask for or buy frozen breastmilk, pay attention to this hygiene. One study on sharing milk between mothers showed that less than half of mothers voluntarily followed the rules of hygiene when breastfeeding their babies .

The first rule of thumb is not to share a breast pump. Even if the giver has followed that rule, the breast pump still needs to be cleaned and sanitized to protect the baby from bacteria or the risk of infection. In fact, many mothers do not clean their breast pumps often and this can cause problems for young children.

5. Milk donors and recipients often do not follow strict milk preservation rules

Although breastmilk is always rich in nutrients and lasts for a long time, you should be aware that milk has a shelf life and must follow the instructions for freezing milk to ensure it does not spoil or lose nutrients.

Breastmilk should not be left at room temperature for more than 8 hours. Once frozen, breastmilk can be stored for up to 6 months. After this time, discard any unused milk.

The problem of the shelf life of breastmilk is difficult to control when mothers share it with others, receive or buy milk. You have no way of finding out how long the milk has been stored. The risk that you buy breastmilk that has been stored for more than six months is very high and it will not be safe to drink it.

6. The mother's body will reduce milk production if not breast-feeding

Although a mother sometimes needs to drink more milk because her body does not produce enough milk for her baby, dependence on another person's breast milk will slow down her milk production.

Milk production is a model of supply and demand. This means that the more you breastfeed or pump, the more milk your body can produce. If you are using someone else's breast milk to feed your baby, you lose the chance to stimulate your body to produce more milk and lead to a decrease in the amount of milk available to your baby.

While using someone else's breastmilk may have a temporary effect, it's still important to focus on stimulating your body to produce milk by continuing to pump, trying to breastfeed, and consuming foods. additional. Do not be too dependent on asking for breast milk that will gradually lose your milk supply.

7. Uncontrollable milk quality

This is a big problem when asking for breast milk, even though the person giving you breastmilk is a family member, the quality of milk is still very difficult to control. These risks increase when you receive breastmilk from an unknown person.

When you breastfeed, you can control what you eat. By drinking alcohol or taking prescription medications, you can know if the drink or medicine is safe to breastfeed. When receiving milk from another mother, you do not know what this mother has eaten, or taken any medications that affect the quality of the milk or not.

8. Your baby can become infected by drinking milk from another mother

If you have an infection like mastitis or the common cold, you can still breastfeed. However, some infections can pass through breast milk, so if you get milk from an unsecured source, your baby may be infected through breast milk.

HIV can also be transmitted through breast milk, and doctors have recommended that women with HIV should not breastfeed. Although TB ​​can be transmitted through breast milk, a woman who has been treated for TB for a certain time can still breastfeed. If you are infected with cytomegalovirus  need to be treated before breast-feeding as the virus can be dangerous to the newborn.

You are always sure that you are healthy and have no infections before you breastfeed, but cannot tell if the person who donates or sells milk to you is healthy. You cannot ensure that your milk supplier has these conditions before you pump. So remember that your baby is at risk of contracting dangerous diseases when drinking the breast milk of others.

9. Not always having access to reputable dairy sources

Informal breast milk providers often do not have specific instructions for sellers or verify the safety of milk. However, these milk sources are often more accessible and cheaper than reputable milk sources.

Spend some time looking for reputable dairy banks from major hospitals as they will carefully check the donors and check the safety of the milk. They also have a better way to store milk. Although milk from these sources is quite expensive, it is safe for the baby.

10. Milk from another mother can cause allergies

A milk-giver's diet can have a huge impact on your baby's health and digestive system. For babies at risk for a food allergy, breastfeeding someone else can put your baby at high risk of allergy.

Even though you can ask the giver for their portion sizes, you still have no absolute control over what they eat. As soon as you ask for breastmilk from someone you know and know their foods well enough, you run the risk of missing out on certain allergens.

11. You can buy poor quality milk

Breastfeeding of others is betting on your baby's health. Although everyone wants to believe a mother who always puts her baby's love first, in fact, there are still people who only see money, not think of mothers and babies who need their milk.

These women just want to make money and often do not guarantee the safety of their milk. They can sell milk that has been frozen for too long, milk contains a health hazard or has been stored in an unhygienic environment.

If you want to use someone else's breastmilk for your baby, get breastmilk from donated milk sources as this is probably a safer source of milk. Milk donors often do not care about money, but want to help others honestly.

12. Other people's breastmilk may have been diluted

Researchers say 10% of cow's milk or formula mixed with breast milk is sold online on websites. This means that the milk sellers mix breastmilk with other substances for added profit.

Importantly, researchers only test small amounts of milk online. If they tested all of that milk, the blending rate could be much higher.

13. Other breast milk may contain medications that are not safe for your baby

Milk from other mothers rarely contains drugs such as heroin or concaine, but the giver may be unintentionally using over-the-counter or prescription drugs that are not good for babies.

Medicines are classified according to their safety if passed through breast milk, but there are many drugs that have never been tested and may have adverse effects on children. If a donor or milk seller is taking one of these drugs without knowing or knowing but not telling the mother, your baby is at risk.

Formula milk certainly has many disadvantages and also has some risks, but mothers must consider the risks when babies drink milk with unsafe drugs and when babies drink formula to make the best decision. .