Should we believe that the words human milk and breastfeeding are words that are interchangeable? This tweet by the US Breastfeeding Committee is an example of how substituting the word, human milk, for breastfeeding makes the statement incredibly wrong. As someone who has gone through multiple hurricanes over the years, I have a very different understanding about living in a disaster zone.
Human-milk-feeding requires access to electricity to store the mammary gland product. Some breast pumps require electricity. Guess what happens in a hurricane? Power goes out, no electricity. Those families that have a well for their water can no longer access their water supplies. Why? Wells require a pump that runs on electricity. In tropical storms or hurricanes, city water supplies may also be shut down by flooding. One cannot run backup generators, if the area is flooded. If you have a generator, you need gasoline. Guess what happens prior to an area in which the hurricane or storm is expected? Gasoline becomes a scarce commodity. Most gas stations are shut down prior to a storm because they have no gas. After the storm passes, there is still no gas because gas pumps run on electricity.
When Hurricane Charlie hit Volusia County some years ago, I was without power for 11 days. I knew families who were without power for more than 11 days. In order to bottle feed human milk to babies, one needs a way to clean bottles and nipples/teats. There is a need to refrigerate that milk. In climates like Florida, high heat and humidity without access to refrigeration, spoils food within a short time. While human milk, unlike infant formula, does not need to be refrigerated as quickly; it will eventually be questionable to use. Freezers defrost quickly without electricity. I had a deep chest freezer. It defrosted some 48 hours after the electricity went off. Ice was difficult to obtain after Hurricane Charlie. And the ice in picnic-style ice chests melted within 24 hours.
Does stored human milk have the same immunological properties as milk obtained through breastfeeding? It is certainly a better food for babies than formula. What studies do we have that compares the health of babies fed bottled human milk versus babies that are breastfed? Might there be differences? We do know that nutritionally a food is best served fresh, then 2nd best is a frozen food, and last is canned foods.
I am surprised by how quickly the breastfeeding community has forgotten the fiasco of sending donor milk to a disaster, after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Breastfeeding mothers in the US were asked to donate their milk for the poor babies in Haiti. What happened is that Haiti could not use that donated milk, because they didn’t have the infrastructure to store it. An article in Time called, “Breast-Milk from Haiti: Why Donations Are Being Discouraged,” 1/29/2010
“That's why the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the United Nations World Food Programme issued a joint statement Jan. 21 that the necessary infrastructure isn't yet in place to utilize donated breast milk on the Haitian mainland.
Public-health officials maintain that breast is best in emergency situations, but only when Mom is right there to feed the baby — no need for temperature control or bottle parts to wash. Breast-feeding is self-contained, readily available and chock-full of antibodies that protect infants from infection and disease.”
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1957614,00.html
The belief that bottled human milk can be used in a disaster is predicated on unrealistic understanding of disasters. Breastfeeding is the safety net in emergency situations.
The belief that human milk and breastfeeding are one and the same words is prevalent in social media. Why? From my perspective the rise of this amnesia regarding the use of the word, breastfeeding, has happened at the same time as the rise of the human milk industry, and growth of human milk banking. What makes money in our society? No, not a mother breastfeeding her baby. Nope.
Copyright 2021 Valerie W. McClain
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