Spare EBM in Auckland?

A request ....

I have a friend who has been diagnosed with a tumour in her pituitary gland. This is the gland that produces all the reproductive and BF hormones. She has no prolactin, the crucial hormone for BF. She was diagnosed a week ago and had her baby on Tuesday. She really wants to BF and she is going to give it a damned good go (her mum is an LC so she is in very capable hands). While we're waiting to find out what her hormones are going to do, she is relying on EBM and is very reluctant to use formula. Some of the wonderful July mums have donated some EBM. I am wondering if anyone has EBM in the freezer that is less than 3 months old that they would consider donating to a new mum and baby.

I realise this is quite an unusual request so will not be surprised if no one is able to help. I have been was absolutely amazed by the very generous mums who have donated. The mum and grandma are so incredibly incredibly grateful. I am asking on the off chance that people may have some spare. I am very happy to come and pick it up (I call it my milk run). Please feel free to PM me to get more info.

Edited by Flissty

What a great cause. I live in Dunedin but if I was in Auckland I would most definitely donate. Come on mums lets rally!

I have just put another post on a different forum directing people to here. I hope it helps!

Sorry I can't help. I would happily give you the milk in my freezer but I live in Chch. Hopefully you'll get lots of response from Auckland mums.
Good luck to your friend. I hope she and her baby are doing well.

Good question Bizzy... as one of those donating, I guess the answer is you just have to trust on the germ front. I couldn't imagine why anybody who cared enough to donate wouldn't care enough to make sure that what they donate is suitable for a newborn, iygwim.

Personally I'm not donating stuff that I had previously expressed, only milk I have expressed since I found out about this wee one and I know I have been absolutely scrupulous about sterilising everything and making sure I have freshly clean hands etc. (Now JJ's a bit older I admit I'm normally not as meticulous about all that as I was when he was ickle.)

That's the only thing I'm worried about with the small amount of milk I have stored that I was going to donate - it was done with dishwasher-cleaned, but not sterilised pump.....depends what you think Fliss, but if Emma and weegee have enough, maybe you should pass over my milk - i would hate for anything bad to happen from it

Bizzy - I had the same thoughts yesterday....but will see how Fliss feels about it!

And as for the germ thing, as far as I know, general viruses like tummy bugs or colds can't pass through breastmilk, and if anything, a baby receiving EBM from mulitple sources will be getting a wider range of antibodies against the lurgies out there....so may actually be less susceptible to the germs out there this winter?

Luckily bub wont need too much milk at ths stage and it wont be long before the mum finds out how her body is going to react... Keep us updated if you can...

and if you do need more milk then i would be willing to express some for her - but i dont have a thing to do it cause like i said i never expressed for my kids... eden still feeds tho and i dont smoke...

Thanks for the offer. We're looking OK at the moment thanks to some TNNers. One of the TNN girls suggested LLL as well. Her mum is really happy for any donations that have been screened as well as we can, she's also pasteurising it and while it drops some nutritional content, it also drops all the germs.

What does TNN and LLL stand for??

Let me know if you need any more milk  - I have a 10 week old baby, and I have all the equipment so everything is sterlised......

I live in Henderson/Sunnyvale.