So true! While I think most people appreciate the value of breast milk, I can't believe that agencies like la leche would have the gall to be pushing their agenda in Haiti - and that's all it is - an agenda.

Anyone in their right minds would understand the simple notion that there are no facilities, time, manpower, etc., to distribute breast milk and that formula, which can be made/consumed as required is obviously the better choice in this situation. It's not as though an orphan's life depends on breast milk.

How 'bout sending cash instead?

Breast milk unthinkable given distance to distribute and effort to preserve quality and sanitary condition.

Wouldn't dollars and effort be better spent educating Haitians on birth control methods so we don't have tens of thousands of orphans, starving children living in filth and an education system in Haiti unequipped to education all these children.

I only read this story because I just couldn't believe it was actually real. Although I believe breast milk is best for a baby, because of the bonding experience that occurs between the mother and the child as well as the immunity boost it gives the child, why would anyone in their right mind believe that transporting breast milk or any unpasteurized milk product internationally would be safe?

I guess this is not a whole lot different than people who donate fur coats to folks in an area that does not get cold, or people that donate old worn clothes that they no longer want. Sometimes it is not the thought that counts, as it truly takes a second thought to understand that not all well intentioned gifts are either necessary or appreciated.

Another case of "How can I help without actually spending money?" While the impulse is noble, the underlying thought is "hey, I can clean out my closets and feel good about it."

No, just send money.

I've petitioned my local town council to let me set up and operate a breast milk "donation station" at my house. It would be udder nonsense to allow some boob to set up a back alley operation that jeopardizes the safety of the donor and recipient. The operators (aka "Jug Juicers", "Headlight Honkers") of these unhygienic black market sources are quite shrewd in their bargaining for supply. One woman stated that "This guy nippled and dimed to death before he would settle on a price.".

Under my well trained eye, I will insure that all donations come from breasts that have been fully inspected and meet my high standards of size, shape, output and, of course, cleanliness. Because of the cause surrounding these donations, I've asked that the council donate the stimulus money given by Mr. Obama that would have otherwise been used to to fairly compensate me for such an arduous task to a worthy cause. I've also asked them to allow me to establish other stations throughout the U.S., but at this point their budget cannot bear the cost of a picket to Tittsburgh.

Is there no end to stupid "do gooder" ideas? Time for Hatti to take care of themselves!

hadenuff

You should visit the website timetosuckgrabatit.com.

It's an organization geared toward helping people just like you that are just trying to do their part.

Huh, bureaucracy, what a waste.

Ta ta!

Call for breat milk goes bust; no pun intended. Aren't there any editors anymore?

Just another way to send useless crap without actually sending money. Having worked with an aid organization before, getting useless junk from people cleaning out their closets or whatever is more trouble than it is worth. Sending money is the thing to do--we can do so much more with cash.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

People get so caught up in dissasters that they start doing rediculous stuff like sending their breast milk to save the Hatians. It is no wonder that fly by night aid groups make out in dissasters like the one in Haiti due to people in this country feeling so desperate to help that they will give money to any organization that promises aid.

Seriously? Is it April 1st?

hadenuff - loved your response. I gave you a vote! I'm sure you'll get many well-meaning men who would be more than willing to volunteer out of the goodness of their hearts to help you with the "inspection" process.

Jane, I was just going to volunteer my services to any of the generous, giving women who want desperately to donate their breast milk...

“Breast-feeding women want to do something to help these babies in Haiti,” Younger-Meek said. “But the relief workers don’t have the infrastructure to support that need right now.”

Want and need are two different things. If breast feeding moms, "want" to help, send powder formula or donate money. The "need" they are talking about is the "need" to push their agenda that breast milk is best in all situations, which simply isn't true. You are correct. It is an agenda with a heavy helping of holier than thou and snobbishness.

To bad they should contact the guy in Florida who sell freeze died urine. There had to be a way.

Melissa in NorCal basically said what I was going to. These people don't care about helping the earthquake victims - they just want to push their agenda, and using a catastrophe such as this to do so is despicable. Want to help babies? Send formula, clean water, and bottles, or make a donation to Doctors Without Borders. There's a time and a place to further your cause, and this is neither.

Using the logic I am seeing, the people who donate blood are just 'cleaning out their closets' and doing something 'free' instead of compassionately wanting to help victims. Faulty, faulty logic. Based on personal experience, I promise you that donating that pint of blood is 100X easier than extracting 10 ounces of breastmilk and takes a lot less time.

Breastmilk storage banks require donating mothers to go through health screenings, and unlike blood donations, milk donations can be pasteurized. It is unfortunate that something that was intended to do good suffered from a lack of planning and foresight.

MsWheezer: I agree w/ you that this idea suffered a lack of planning and foresight. Perhaps they should continue working on it - so that when Haiti has the ability to accept such a donation they will be ready to act. Right now, there are issues w/ storage so that the milk doesn't go bad before it can be used. What power there is is having to be used for limited medical needs, and it's inconsistent at best. Perhaps, the organizations wanting to donate breast milk can keep in contact w/ the Red Cross and other charities so they will know when the infrastructure is to a point that this assistance will actually help. In the mean time, be working on ensuring that they are utilizing reputable milk banks to ensure testing is being done, etc.

hadenuff-1173496, Beautifully artitulated plan. Brilliant.

It would work if it were transported via wet-nurse. a woman who is doing other volunteer work and happens to be lactating could find that sort of thing very useful. I read an article once about Selma Hayek visiting Africa and picking up a starving baby and breastfeeding it - very sweet pictures. I could see how comforting that could be to a distressed baby. But pumping it, storing it and bottle feeding it to the haitian babies seems like a waste of resources.

Just another aspect of the "enlightened" religion of Islam. How primitive can a religion get? All this controlling of women's sexuality and bodies is sickening.

Thanks for the lesson on Islam, but considering the large majority of Hatians is Christian, (yes, there are some Muslims there), the "breast milk brothers and sisters" thing wouldn't really make a difference.

Although it might not make a difference in this case, there are still many people who do not think breast milk should be shared, whether it be a religious conviction or not.

And Anonymous, although I share your distaste for many things that Muslims believe in regards to women and their autonomous rights, I think what Dr. Kareem told us is a very valuable information. You see, I do not dislike Muslims simply because they are Muslims. I prefer to treat people as individuals, as we all have different beliefs, even within the same religious community.

Anonymous, don't be silly. Islamic beliefs (if these are actual) that would stem from such a donation would only be a result of unity, not division and dictating women's bodies. Considering that another women probably only gives her milk under dire circumstances thate fact that they would honor her as a mother of the child would probably be a great source of pride to that woman.

That being said, don't send your breast milk to Haiti.

I don't want want to share breast milk with anyone. It does not take an MD to figure out that this is a bad idea. How much is a can of formula? What if the donor has hepatitis or something worse? You have to love the foreign MD's most of them could care less about you and have the personality of a piece of card board.

Well Jim you don't have to worry about donating your breast milk.

Now, how much is a can of formula...About 10 bucks. Most Haitians make 2 dollars a day.

I will give you thisis a weird article, but breast milk is free, when it's donated.

And besides the water is probably more dangerous than donated breast milk.

You do realize that Haiti is not an Islamic country?

Islam has too many beliefs but no reality. Who cares what Islam believes.

Matt, even when breast milk is donated, it is not free. It has to be collected, transported, stored and distributed. The whole process is not cheap.

AM, can you tell me where this might be found in the Quran or is it Hadith, or is it a later interpretation?

Wow posttal!! Finally, someone who feels the way i do!!!

I'm glad there are only a handful of you.

Please let me know if your house catches on fire--I'll bring weanies and marshmallows for everyone!

So, posttal, I will be the one to say this to you. The Haitian people would appreciate it if you would not send your breast milk for the babies in Haiti. See, they realize that you are a "poor slob" who needs to have all the breast milk he can manage to produce to feed himself and his own.

Please understand that no one is requiring that you donate anything to anyone, whether in your own community or abroad. Therefore, I am not sure what you are complaining about...you know, other then the fact that you needed to find an excuse to call someone "illiterate"?

People like you are the problem in this country posttal. Your selfishness is astounding.

Also, rappers and athletes do not do nothing for their money, they provide enter and a distraction from people's everyday problems. If they were as useless as you say we would not give them our money.

It does bring up a good question though. Why are Americans so quick to donate to other countries that suffer through these natural disasters, yet many don't donate to our own countrymen that are suffering? If we want to be an example to the world on how to treat people, why don't we do more to help each other first? Where are all the telethons to raise money to stop poverty in our country??

While I have donated already to help Haiti, I would love to see the same outpouring of support and attention to Americans that need our help.

The simple answer is that poverty in the US would be a dream lifestyle for most people living on the planet. We have the fattest poor people in the world. Being poor in the US means having only one TV. Why does it always seem when I drive through the "hood", there are nice cars and flat screen glowing in the living rooms? Most people perceive this as a lifestyle choice, not a place life has brought you regardless of your hard work and ambition. There are always exceptions of course. We do have very poor people who seem destined to stay that way. We do help them through soup kitchens, homeless camps, and Salvation Army and the likes. In fact, the homeless in my area have so many choices in clothes, they often dump what they don't want on the sidewalks near the Salvation Army. They turn down offers to spend the night inside, out of the cold because they'd have to be sober. Most of it is a choice, whether you want to hear it or not.

Melissa, there is a big misconception that all Americans have more opportunities than others in other countries. Americans need to go to the Appalachian mountains where kids do not have shoes, they have dirt floors, their teeth are rotting out, they have no medical or dental care and if they want to go to school they have to walk for miles with no shoes. There are no jobs there and the parents have no money to move. Another place is in the Washington DC inner city. There are hungry children all over the place. I think it is wonderful to give to Haiti, but I have questioned several times why we have not been as generous with those in this country, i guess it is because everyone thinks that we all have better opportunities and that is just not true for everyone, it depends on where you live in the US.

I've lived in both Appalachia and DC (where I grew up) and while dentistry may be a a problem, I never saw anyone walking to school for miles with no shoes! Also, since when does it take money to move, beyond the price of a bus ticket and enough money to rent a room for perhaps a month, or better yet, friends or relatives in your new city? I've done it several times, including with a small child in tow.

Hee hee. Thanks for the laugh!

Ditto. With moms being pushed nowadays to breastfeed, I'm surprised the concept of a "wet nurse" hasn't fully come back. It would be different - wet nurses used to be slaves or servants - but their a supply and demand, so why not let it become a product you can purchase, and provide some extra income opportunity for women who don't want to work but stay home with the kids?

Why are you so offended by a woman feeding her baby? It's a necessary function that has to be done, babies don't care where it happens. If a woman that is sitting on a bench in a store with a blanket over her suckling baby offends you then you need to get over it.

Given that our race has survived and thrived off of breastmilk for thousands of years, I see nothing wrong with continuing to do it. There are discreet ways for women to feed in public, and I'd say that pretty close to 100% aren't whipping their boob out in public and popping it in their kids' mouth for all and sundry to see. Would you want to eat in a public bathroom? Probably not, so why should a mother be forced into a filthy place to feed her child? If you're so offended by sight, then perhaps you need to start working on setting up regulations to require 'feeding locations' in public or private institutions, where women could go and get more privacy while feeding a baby.

Back on the topic at hand, yeah I'd have to say it's pretty weird to want to donate your milk to someone thousands of miles away. I would think it'd be hard to keep it fresh, not to mention making sure someone isn't donating tainted milk.

Jace, last year we went to a local swim facility near our home. It was filled with teenage kids; both boys and girls. A mother whipped out her boob and feed her baby right next to the pool! Now, tell me, why couldn't she have gone to the womens locker room? Why did she feel the need to expose her boob to a room filled with teenagers?? Boys at that! She didn't "cover herself" and when asked to cover herself threw a huge fit!

Now that's what I have a problem with!!

Marysia, have you really been this uptight and sexually repressed all your life or is it some new found, born again sensitivity? It would take an extraordinarily long boob to be whipped, dangerous to all nearby children. I imagine you go through the entire day offended by very innocent, minute events. I guess it is your right to be offended. A breast exposed to feed a baby is hardly sexual, perhaps you should evaluate how you percieve the world around you, and why.

If 10 percent of the "donations" reach the victims,we should be thankful.Unfortunately,another money making medimum for all the "non profit" organisations.We used so much man power including men and women of the armed forces,just to save the victims as a compassionate nation of people. NO more - Absoulte NO to sending the Haitians to our shores.Remember,the majority of the people are lazy,drug dealers and they kill each other.They should have been better of,if at least some attempts were made to improve themselves,which did not happen for the last 5 decades.The corrupt politicians used all the money from the Americans and others for their personal use and will continue to do same even out of the "aid funds and supplies".Black market.The stores are with food - at a higher price.The haitians in america will keep on sending "western union moneygrams" in order for the people to buy food..We can help the unemployed in OHIO and the homeless in NEW ORLEANS.

If you keep watching the news, much of the problem is the aid organizations actually getting the food to those that need it. Even if food is in the stores, unless you have cash money you cannot buy it, especially given the fact that the banks were destroyed. Those with money either already had it, or got it via Western Union from family and friends in the US. Those branches have reopened.

As for the aid organizations, I have been especially appalled by the UN's efforts as they have been too little, and oddly pompous in their way of helping those that need it. For instance, requiring people to fill out paperwork to get food, then driving away with said food when people got angry! How does the UN not now that many Haitians are functionally illiterate? It seems to me they would have lower black market and far less violence, if the food was given out as needed, in as many places as possible. Unfortunately bureaucracy takes over, and everyone loses, those that need the aid and those of us who made the donations that made said aid possible.

I don't know who is going to have to step in to get this ball rolling properly, but somebody better, or these people are going to end up right back where they started from, with a bunch of "do-gooders" who care more about their own international standing then they do the people they are supposedly trying to help!

"Remember,the majority of the people are lazy,drug dealers and they kill each other..."

johna, how in the hell do you know anything about the "majority" of anyone who lives in any country, including this one? How dare you make such a statement as if it were fact?

Haiti is a country that has had it's issues prior to and after they declared independence to be sure, including being ruled by more than one despot who was backed by the US CIA, while they killed off their own citizenry. In recent years, the country has been doing much better, save for the fact that they have been hit with no fewer than four natural disaster's since 2004! The country can and will do better, but what no one needs is people like you making blanket, unnecessary statements about a country that you have likely never been to!

Tell me, now that you seem so concerned about the "homeless" in New Orleans, I wonder what you called those folks in the days and weeks following Hurricaine Katrina? Personally, I feel truly blessed to have been born in the US, and I use that blessing to help other's who were not so fortunate whenever I can, without making thoughtless and unnecessary statements about the people who need the help!

Cut the relief agencies and military some slack. Feeding and housing a MILLION people is not as easy as people seem to think it is.

Someone is. Heather Mills announced on Larry King Live, that she and an organization she is a part of, are collecting used limbs, taking them apart, and rebuilding them for those in need in Haiti.

The organization is called Physicians for Peace:

http://www.physiciansforpeace.org/

Sounds like great community service to me.

And I bet canned formula would suit them all just fine!

The problem was a lack of formula, not breast milk. The babies were being fed powdered cows milk, which was causing diarrhea, making the babies sicker and more dehydrated.

I suspect someone saw that story, and assumed that sending breast milk would help the children more. Although their hearts were in the right place I suppose, I am sure they didn't think about the ramifications of sending unpasteurized breast milk to a country where the temperature is in the 90's.

Ah no, this is holier than thou agenda pure and simple.

Or - feed the haitian mothers so they can breastfeed their own babies.

Completly agree with you. The whole breast milk Nazi thing has got to stop. New mothers need to be taught to do what feels right to them when it come to breast feeding. Not what some group wants to push as the agenda.

I agree too! I'm tired of being told I'm a horrible mom because I didn't breastfeed my kids. Both are healthy, smart, and I'm close to both of them. I was able to "bond" just fine with my kids without breastfeeding!!

It was my understanding too that breast milk was "designed" for your child and not for others. I wouldn't want my kid having someone else's milk either! Formula would fill the need just fine! As I'm sure it will in Haiti, too!

Word! I was breastfed as a baby, and now I have so many chronic illnesses that I'll be lucky to see 30. Breastfeeding does not guarantee immunity or immortality for your child, and I'm sick of these "boob nazis" demonizing everyone who would dare make a different choice. Yes, breastmilk is the healthiest choice, but even breastfed people get sick.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being the voices of reason here. I was breastfed as a child, but for various reasons wasn't able to do it for my kids for very long (for my son it was a mouth deformity on his end...)

I was told I could pump. Sorry. I won't be milked like a cow...and i work a job where it's nearly impossible to take time to pump anyhow. I was told i was selfish.

I finally took to telling people that I'd had breast cancer and my boobs weren't real & I couldn't lactate.I was told that I could buy some stranger's milk...and wear a contraption so that the baby thought they were getting the milk from me!

That's when I realized that there was no reasoning with some people.

Here's the thing: it's always better for both the mother and the child if the mother is happy and well adjusted and does not resent her child. If that means I bottle-fed so that I could keep a very good job, because my child had a birth defect, because I was dealing with post-partum issues & on drugs, because I am HIV positive, or just because I don't trust a stranger's breast-milk...that's my choice!! Trust me, I made a very informed decision.

suzy ... its too bad that you were forced to lie to get people to leave you alone. It is NO ONE's business whether or not you breast feed your children.

The thing in this case is there is no way to efficiently test the milk to ensure that it is truly safe. We can't simply take the word of the person that the mother is healthy. Furthermore, transport and storage of breast milk is not efficient in an area that has lost infrastructure.

Yes, the thought was nice - but not well thought out.

Testing the milk for safety is an issue - you can't simply assume that the donors are healthy. Also, transport and storage is not the same in a 3rd world country that has been devasted by an earthquake as it would be other countries and situations. So, even if the milk is "clean" when it is donated, the risk of spoilage and contamination is very high due to the inability to store it and transport it safely.

While the idea was noble, it wasn't well thought out. Donations that cannot be used actually impede the ability to use donations that can be used and are needed. So, not only is the breast milk not able to be used in this case, the donation of it slows the chartiable organizations from doing the work that they need to do.

Sorry about the virtual double post - I had an issue w/ registration...

IT MUST BE A MAN! Yeah probably was, he thought, hey we have no way to prevent the transfer of communicable disease, adequatly store, transport or distribute a very perishable substance.Carol certainly dissregards any idea of gender equality given her superior intellect.

This is so disgusting that healthy mothers cannot donate their milk to poor, starving children.

What about disease? What about spoilage? Haiti does not have adequate refrigeration or freezers. I think this is more about disease than anything else. You don't know where/who this is from and their health!

I'm venturing a guess that Haitians breast feed due to the fact they are an extremely poor country and have no other options. These "poor, starving, children" will do just fine on formula!

This reminds me of a group in my area that bragged about collecting 10,000 pounds of food and water for Haiti. Water? At 8 pounds/gallon, the transport costs far outweigh the value of the water. Just another example of ill-considered good intentions actually getting in the way of relief efforts.

Sometimes those maligned relief agencies really do know what they're talking about. If they ask for cash instead of heavy food and water, listen to them.

al, I don't have a problem at all with those that chose to breastfeed! Go for it! More power to you!

BUT.......don't condemn those that chose NOT TO breastfeed!! And that's what these organizations and so many other breastfeeding women tend to do!

That is so true. You never see women shoving formula in the faces of those mothers who choose to breastfeed. Yet, they made it pretty clear to me that while I was breast feeding my son, it would be prudent to give him vitamins that breast milk simply didn't have. I was like, wait a minute, isn't breast milk perfect? With Enfamil offering a formula that now contains antibodies, I'm having a hard time following the breast milk is better because...It seems to me, the only advantage it has these days is still easier digestion and well, it is free and clean if eaten from the source. Once you pump and store, the free part, and the safe part, kind of goes out the window. That said, if you want to breastfeed, go for it. If not, go for it. The differences are becoming more and more negligible.

In an area as devastated as Haiti has been - both by the earthquake and poverty - refridgeration is not as readily available.

Rightous indignation does not make you right.

Have you ever needed something very badly and a salesperson who will not listen to you keeps insisting that they know better than you what you need? My mother and I once had a furnature salesman become quite rude to us because we told him that the sofa he was pointing us to would not work well in our home. He told us he was a professional. We told him he'd never been in our house and left.

You aren't in Haiti. You assume you know what's best for the people of Haiti but it's a rather conceited mindset. The people who are there know what is needed and what is not. If they say formula is needed in this situation instead of fresh breast milk they may

maybe

just possibly

Know more than you sitting in your comfy home.

Carol, there were few refridgerators before the quake, now even fewer, plus, I didn't know if you knew this, but they run on electricity. Guess what? No power. You pull out decades ago like that should matter. Haiti is more than decades behind. You obviously don't get it. You are unrealistic.

Was it Hatti or Somalia that dragged the soldiers ? Doesn't really matter, it is typical of how the U S. is treated by some backward countries when trying to help!

And just how will it be kept cold/frozen when it gets there...there is no power yet...the infrastructure is destroyed...Use a little common sense people...

Freeze dried just add water.

Please explain, and I'm not being sarcastic, how breast milk vs formula is going or would save these children? How and why does it have to be breast milk that is altered and it can't be formula or another form of milk, cow, goat, etc? Not being sarcastic, I really have never head of this before and would like to know.

For the premature infants, there are benefits to giving them breastmilk as opposed to formula. It isn't a huge difference, but could affect the child the rest of his/her life.

Here's an article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031104063548.htm

Not being sarcastic, JLMYERS77777, but I would have thought the "breastfeeding Nazis" would have made sure you were up-to-date on everything breastfeeding. Guess they didn't shove enough of their "propaganda" your way. Shame on them for not being more aggressive with their agenda. Sounds like you are quite opinionated about a subject you know very little about. Not being sarcastic, or anything.

Why Bother, There are many who go out of their way to make those mothers who do not or can not breast feed feel as if thy are not fit to be mothers. I myself went through it wit my child when he was a premie and I couldn't produce enough to feed him. I was given formula to supplement him at the hospital but a bunch as jerks from the La Leche club sponsered by the hospital came in and went out of their way to make me feel as if I was doing something wrong in using formula to supplement my child. Yes, those types of groups are Breast feeding NAZI's and you sir or madame are being a jerk. I truely have never heard of them useing breast milk for such pruposes and was asking about it, because unlike you, I am willing to ask.

Ms Wheezer, thank you for the article. I really had never heard of it.

Wow. Funny that I am the jerk when all of your posts spew forth adolescent namecalling and emotional banter. Anyhow, it is unfortunate that a few bad individuals have somehow sullied the reputation of those whose intentions are well-meaning and are trying to inform new mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding. The majority of women who breastfeed are not out to condemn those who choose not to or are unable to. If anything, it is the other way around. Most breastfeeding mothers breastfeed quietly because of the negative attitudes towards the act...just read some the posts on here. And, the pressure to use formula is astromonically greater than the pressure to breastfeed in this country. Any expectant mother can attest to the huge number of free formula samples and coupons that they receive in the mail, not to mention the companies that produce infant formula touting their products via television commercials and the Internet. How we perceive others intentions, be it moral, ethical or monetary, is up to us as individuals. Once again, we are a society that always "feels" victimized and helpless, no matter the subject. So please spare me the violin solo and, despite how you "feel", the majority of the world isn't out to viciously condemn you or anyone else who chooses not to or is unable to breastfeed. (Isn't this suppose to be a forum about breastmilk donations to Haiti.) I digress again.

heres an article

http://cbs2chicago.com/health/breast.milk.premature.2.982283.html

and one more

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/558566/?sc=rsla

I completely agree that La Leche and their ilk can be real jerks, turning this personal choice into something akin to religious dogma. In my case, I have a serious, lifelong sleep disorder and trying to breastfeed (which, per the pediatrician had to be every two hours around the clock) turned me into a zombie who was just plain dangerous to my child. Switching to formula, which meant fewer feedings AND my husband could do some of them, made all the difference in the world. It literally restored me to sanity, whereas before I had been so "out of it" all the time due to my exhaustion that I was in real danger of social services taking the baby. La Leche needs to just shut up. Breastfeeding is NOT right in every single case.

At the risk of sounding like a "breastfeeding nazi" Did you realize you can breastfeed in your sleep?You only have to wake up long enough to pick up your baby, uncover your boob, and lay back down. If your baby sleeps with you, you don't have to get up at all. All mammals can and do do this. Not just me, but I noticed my dog and cat both also had this ability.

It might breed some sense into them. Keep it coming!

You sound just as self centered in your rambling post as sfs. Your post of "and for those who would like their children to consume actual human milk as opposed to a product concocted in a laboratory" is stated specificaly to put those down who have either chosen to or by circumstances beyond their control use formula. That is exactly the guilt trip that sfs was refering too...

Am I wrong to state that formula is concocted in a laboratory? And is there something horribly wrong with feeding humans human milk? If merely posting a true statement is a show of self-centeredness and is in itself an act to "put those down who have either chosen to or by circumstances beyond their control use formula," then my apologies to the hypersensitive. It is interesting that those in the majority (those who choose to formula feed) feel so threatened and victimized by the minority (those who breastfeed). And why is there such a propensity in this country to feel "guilty" because others express a different viewpoint? Must we blame others for our feelings of guilt? Take ownership of, and have pride in, your decisions despite your circumstances and quit playing victim. Thanks for being such an honest judge...I am sure you are the epitome of someone who is not self-centered. And please don't try to make me feel guilty for rambling...I take full ownership of my digressions.

The topic at hand is concerning breastmilk being sent to Haiti (and possibly those in the US who WOULD appreciate donated breast milk), not about how wonderful sfs's formula-fed children are.

Nor is it about your self-righteous attitude and denigration of people who raise their kids differently than you.

With all do respect Megidoloan, once again, I am stating an educated opinion that obviously meets with your disapproval. Does that automatically make one self-righteous? Nowhere have I stated that people who choose to use formula are of a lower subspecies or should be executed by so-called breast feeding "Nazis". Can you honestly declare that the string presented by sfs did not contain information that suggests that her children are quite wonderful? (As they most likely are.) How is my pointing that out belittling? And never have I stated any personal information that would suggest that I have children, or have breastfed, or have may or may not have chronic illness of my own. Maybe another critical look at the string will reveal the fact that the attack from the self-righteous is on those who breastfeed. Trying to debate with those who are already in an emotionally based defensive position about the subject at hand appears to be quite otiose. But I must say that anyone who starts out a discussion with "WORD", does make me feel a little self-righteous. My formula-fed self (yes, it is true) will pray for you.

Look it up - Human milk banks do exist. The milk is tested, pasteurized and safe. There are 11 human milk banks like this in the U.S. and they save lives.

Breast milk IS 1000% better than formula. If you educated yourselves you would find out this is true. All formula is based on cow's milk which is for calves. Human milk is for humans. Can we exist on cow's milk? Yes, but it's not nearly as good for too many reasons to count. Problem with formula for one, is that you need clean water to make it....which is also a problem in many 3rd world countries....and a problem in Haiti right now, I'm sure.

Was this misguided? Maybe, but the intentions were good.

The point that is being missed is that women should breastfeed. This is what our bodies were designed to do. Most women can, they just dont want the inconvenience.

Is the mental health of the mother more important than whether she breastfeeds? YES!

BUT, most women in the U.S. dont want to work at all....they want epidurals before they go into labor, they want formula, they want daycare, etc etc There are consequences for everything.

Remember Katrina? The mothers who were breastfeeding kept their children alive at a time when there was no clean water or formula. When I saw this devastation in Haiti, all I thought was "I hope these women are already breastfeeding so their children have some chance at survival." It can be the difference of life or death. Just because some people choose to give formula, doesnt negate the fact that nothing is better than breastfeeding and breastmilk.

Do you like honey karla?

No, I don't like honey but thanks for inquiring.

Ahh 2 bad what to do with Breakfast Arrangments then? {:)

Wow. But there is nothing better than stocking your fridge with the bodily fluid of a large fly-covered, hormone-injected bovine that stands around in its own urine and feces. It is all about perspective.

Well Most Organs Come From Asia mostly Chinese dissenters hearts packed in a ice chest to blood match donor payin 10 - 100k on a bump for implant. The world really isn't horse and buggy anymore, can't blame the worker bees stimulating something.