I just read this article about “underground milk sharing” in Seattle magazine. Human breast milk this time, not raw cow or goat milk. And oh boy, did I have a few laughs while reading it. It sounds almost completely interchangeable with an article about raw milk – right down to the big organzations (FDA, La Leche) that refuse to endorse it because it’s “dangerous” (read: fear of litigation.) And, of course, the rebels who go their own way and simply make a point to know their sources. If you KNOW YOUR SOURCE, it’s all safe.
I laughed so hard that Nugget jumped when I got to the part about pasteurization.
While home pasteurization kits are an option for milk sharers, neither Cunningham nor Longmoon has pasteurized her donated supplies. “Pasteurizing takes out a lot of the immunological elements of milk,” says Cunningham.
So. We’re at war about this even with breast milk, too? And if people accept that pasteurization kills the immunological elements of HUMAN milk, you HAVE to accept the same of cow & goat milk. IT’S ALL MILK.
But I’m glad that I read this – it made me feel really good about deciding to pursue being a postpartum Doula. I will be the renegade who openly talks about underground milk banks and raw goat milk for babies. While I wouldn’t want someone to just quickly give up on breastfeeding, I do also know that I would have had far fewer hours of sobbing had someone just said to me that underground milk banks or raw goat milk were an option, as opposed to formula. The guilt about giving my son formula was overwhelming. At the very least, it would have possibly allowed me to regroup and relax enough to keep trying at breastfeeding. Yeah, it’s best, but our society is no longer such that all women have enough support and sometimes you just need someone to stop pushing and say, “Here, there are other options that might make you feel better.”