*weary* Well, probably not.

[kyrielle]

I have heard back from one of the two milk banks with local collection centers. It is the one I was more hopeful would let me donate, as their site lists recipient categories where I hoped that Claritin in my system would not necessarily be an issue.

For NICU babies and other fragile infants, it would be - they don't want any unexpected medicines/substances there. But these folks also list babies whose own mothers can't supply milk due to their medications, multiples whose mothers don't have enough milk, etc. - not categories that are guaranteed to be medically fragile. And their web site says that if you take medicines other than the standard list of known-okay ones, you need to contact them to see if you can donate. So I was mildly hopeful, but only mildly.

No, they won't, but they'll be happy to take any milk I express starting a few days after I stop taking the claritin, when it will have fully left my system. Except claritin is a daily/maintenance medication that I've been taking for years, and without it my allergies (which occasionally manage to be annoying anyway) peak and are miserable, sometimes leading to sinus infections from the congestion. If I were to stop taking the claritin, it'd be to try something else, NOT to go without an antihistamine.

I still have a query into the other milk bank, but their web site is more crisply cut and says no other medications. I asked anyway, but I don't hold out high hopes.

The minimum donation for the milk bank that has already responded is around 100 ounces. For the other, it's around 150. This can be gathered over weeks or months if need be. I'm getting 10-15 ounces more than Ian needs per day. If I didn't take Claritin, most of that could be donated. (Being realistic, I occasionally take a Tylenol or a Sudafed PE and I'd need to not collect for them for a certain amount of time after either, I suppose, so not all of it would be able to be donated, but most.)

There's a group trying to start a milk bank here in the northwest. They're still gathering funding, though they've had space donated by one of the local health organizations. I sent them some money. It may be the only kind of donation I CAN make for this cause, which is frankly heartbreaking but still better than no contribution at all.

I hate my allergies more than usual today. LOTS more than usual, since I'm fairly used to them, but very unhappy about the sheer waste they are causing.

(And yes, before anyone says it, I know some people do person-to-person donation. I am not comfortable with the legal and medical risks therein, even with all precautions that can be taken within that setting.)

Comments

[katbyte.livejournal.com]

Just a thought. Maybe you could directly donate through your doctor or something. It could be anonymous and maybe she knows someone who needs it.

(This is way out of my knowledge base, lol)

[kyrielle]

No, the most a doctor could do would be to arrange a person-to-person like I do not want, which I cannot imagine they would do (see liability), or put me in contact with the milk banks.

Transferring human milk to another baby involves blood testing the donating mother, confirmations of health from the donating mother's OB and her child's pediatrician (er, the donating mother's child's pediatrician, not the OB's), and then handling of each batch of milk.

It's the handling of each batch of milk that would be difficult to do outside the milk bank setting - the frozen milk is thawed, mingled together, in some cases assessed for and adjusted for fat content (maybe all cases, I'm not sure), re-bottled in precise amounts, and pasteurized. After that, a sample is taken and cultured to be sure it wasn't contaminated at any point. The rest is frozen again (safe to thaw and refreeze because of the pasteurization) and held until the sample confirms it is clean. It can then be shipped to the recipient.

The equipment to do that is not cheap, and neither is the time/training/expertise. The Northwest Mother's Milk Bank, which is trying to get started, is presently soliciting donations and lists the costs of just the equipment involved: http://www.nwmmb.org/fill-our-space-campaign.html - and of course you need the space, which itself has to be reasonably clean and sterile.

[pocketnaomi]

Sympathy. We talked about this at Conflikt, I remember. I'd hoped you could find somewhere; this just seems so silly. I'm sorry they're being ridiculous about it. Yes, I do understand why they don't let preemies have anything whatsoever, but I agree with you about most milk banks serving plenty of families whose babies are fine, but there's some reason why its own mother can't nurse it successfully. You'd think they'd want to free up as much as possible of the 'pure' milk supply for the preemies and delicate ones, by giving milk like yours to the ones who can take it.

[kyrielle]

Sad as I am, I understand their reasoning. The woman who responded from the bank that I didn't expect to accept me (and they didn't) was very apologetic but also very frank. Most of their recipients are medically fragile, and those are the recipients who get milk first. Because of how it's processed, they'd have to track which medicines were in a given batch from multiple mothers, in order to have milk that was only suitable for a fairly limited sub-set of their recipients. Most babies that aren't medically fragile will be given formula, even if donor milk is available, because of how much more affordable it is.

Even if the mother is aware of the benefits of breast milk and wants it, even if they could get a prescription, the price (which is the cost of processing; drop the price and the milk bank ceases to be able to do this at all) would prohibit most.

So the cost of setting up a channel for the babies that can handle medicines is more than the benefit.

Bah.

I really dislike my allergies. If I weren't taking the Claritin, I'd meet the donation criteria. And the "minimum" by mail donation is 100 ounces...my excess from a week to a week and a half. Argh.

[pocketnaomi]

Argh. Yeah, okay, this makes economic sense, unfortunately. "Whenever anyone asks 'Why don't they...?' the answer is always 'money.'"

I take it the allergies are year-round?

[kyrielle]

Yes - I'm allergic to everything they test for in some degree - trees, weeds, dust, mold, grasses.... Unfun.

The classic sneezing is also not my first allergic response, sadly. I get a stuffy nose that can escalate to a sinus infection unless decongestants are applied, my eczema flares (including my hands, which crack easily), and my eyes itch. The sneezing, if it shows up, comes after those three have started hitting. I'd take mild (and maybe moderate) sneezing as acceptable, but the others, not so much.

[pocketnaomi]

Ugh. That's what it was sounding like. Sorry to hear it, it does indeed sound unfun, and not just because it means you can't donate breast milk. *hug*

[pocketnaomi]

Yeah. Wish I could offer you a piece of mine; I have the world's most laid-back histamine system. It doesn't even react to bee stings or poison ivy the way almost everyone's does.