Experts Warn Parents on Donated Breast Milk in Facebook Groups Amid Baby Formula Shortage

Donated breast milk from Facebook groups may be a blessing to many struggling families amid the baby formula shortage. However, experts are advising parents to be more careful about where they source their baby's food as there are risks to shared breast milk.

Kelly Sibley, an Oregon health expert, told KEZI ABC 9 that parents must stay away from Facebook groups and other informal breast milk sharing locations. The expert does not recommend such sources because the parent acquiring the milk does not know where it came from.

At legitimate donor sites, donated breast milk is always screened for contaminants given the risk factors of diseases like hepatitis. Ideally, breast milk could be shared between parents who know or are very familiar with each other but even then, there are still some risks when the parents do not have the exact details of each other's medical backgrounds.

Sibley said that aside from breast milk contamination, she has heard of cases of diluted breast milk from unaccredited donor sites that may also impact the baby's general well-being.

What Parents Need to Know About Sharing breast milk

Per Forbes, breast milk is a body fluid that may carry different pathogens and substances. Thus the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has imposed a guideline on how milk banks have to screen potential donors.

Donors are, in fact, prohibited from giving away their breast milk if they take any medications or herbal preparations, or if they are into alcohol and drugs. Donor sites also look up the Drugs and Lactation Database to verify medications and supplements that could affect the infants.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also does not recommend giving babies breast milk directly acquired from the internet since these have not undergone a thorough screening. The human milk from these transactions is also likely not properly collected, processed and stored in such a way that it won't make the baby sick.

The FDA also encourages parents to talk to their baby's pediatrician first before getting milk from Facebook groups. The pediatrician could have likely sources of legitimate breast milk donor sites. Parents may also look up their state health department or the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) for other leads.

First Baby Formula Shipment from Europe Arrives

The White House has confirmed that 70,000lbsof baby formula, which can fill roughly half a million bottles, has arrived in Indianapolis on Sunday, May 22. The supply will cover 15 percent of the shortage.

National Economic Council Brian Deese said that the baby formulas will be on store shelves this week, alongside more supplies from Nestle, which has been asked to produce "a specialty medical grade formula." Deese alluded that the U.S. must introduce more competing brands in the U.S. following Abbott's blunder.

Meanwhile, Abbott CEO Robert Ford wrote an op-ed via The Washington Post to apologize for the baby formula shortage. He also confirmed that the Michigan plant, which was shut down in late February for contamination, is preparing to open and restart formula milk production in June.