Trends in Donor Milk Banking in the United States

Abstract

Modern donor milk banking was conceived in the US in the early 1900s as a medicalized version of wet nursing. Over the course of the century the fortunes of donor milk banking have varied considerably. In the last 20 years donor milk banking has been negatively affected by the development of specialty formulas, safety issues related to viral transmission, and lack of clinical research. To survive, US milk banks have been receptive to clinical uses considered as “alternative medicine,” and have cooperated with governmental agencies to develop standards for safety. A qualitative analysis of collected case histories of US donor milk recipients demonstrates that donor human milk banking can be critical to survival and the well-being of at-risk infants, children, and the occasional adult. By analyzing national data collected by survey method and examining the literature, the researcher compared German and US milk banks and distribution data. German milk banks use donor milk exclusively for premature infants and have less stringent operating standards, yet dispense volumes of milk greatly in excess of the US milk banks. While statistics are lacking for the total recipient population in the US, a projected analysis (based on German consumption) of the potential volume that could be dispensed in the US is presented, indicating that the population in need of this crucial public health service is currently under-served in the US.