Current Trends in Research on Human Milk Exchange for Infant Feeding

Abstract

Breastfeeding is critical for the healthy growth and development of infants. A diverse range of infant-feeding methods are used around the world today. Many methods involve feeding infants with expressed human milk obtained through human milk exchange. Human milk exchange includes human milk banking, human milk sharing, and markets in which human milk may be purchased or sold by individuals or commercial entities. In this review, we examine peer-reviewed scholarly literature pertaining to human milk exchange in the social sciences and basic human milk sciences. We also examine current position and policy statements for human milk sharing. Our review highlights areas in need of future research. This review is a valuable resource for healthcare professionals and others who provide evidence-based care to families about infant feeding.

An ‘incredible community’ or ‘disgusting’ and ‘weird’? Representations of breastmilk sharing in worldwide news media

“…In recent years there has been an increase in research, using different methods, into how and why women choose to use other mother's milk through peer-to-peer arrangements (see, e.g., Akre, Gribble, & Minchin, 2011;Gribble, 2013;O'Sullivan, Geraghty, & Rasmussen, 2018). These are also sometimes referred to as informal-, casual-or private-arrangement milk sharing or as 'milky matches' (Carter & Reyes-Foster, 2016;Cassidy, 2012;Palmquist et al, 2019). These arrangements are facilitated by the internet via social media and organisations such as Human Milk 4 Human Babies, as well as by the increase in availability of breast pumps and a culture of pumping (Boyer, 2010(Boyer, , 2014Hausman, 2014), resulting in some women having an over-supply and a desire to use rather than waste their excess milk.…”

“…Milk sharing has also been shown to rely on personal and community contacts (Palmquist et al, 2019). Breastmilk is also exchanged as a commodity in commercial arrangements involving both individuals and corporations (Perrin et al, 2018); occasionally, this is for reasons other than feeding babies (Steele, Foell, Martyn, & Freitag, 2015).…”

Breastfeeding and the origins of health: Interdisciplinary perspectives and priorities

“…The limited access to DHM in most countries has led to a large increase in unregulated informal HM sharing (Palmquist et al, 2019). To prevent potential harms from these practices, a pragmatic approach has been proposed by the Academy of suggesting that women can be characterized according to their milk composition profile (Munblit et al, 2017) and that variation in combinations of milk components rather than single factors may be linked with infant health.…”

“…The limited access to DHM in most countries has led to a large increase in unregulated informal HM sharing (Palmquist et al, 2019). To prevent potential harms from these practices, a pragmatic approach has been proposed by the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (Sriraman, Evans, Lawrence, & Noble, 2018), outlining risks versus benefits to help parents make evidence‐based decisions.…”

Why We Need to Critically Analyze the Science

“…Also in this issue, we have four articles at the second highest level of evidence: critical appraisal. Three of these articles focus on critically analyzing research related to specific clinical issues; the efficacy of IBCLCs (Haase, Brennan, & Wagner, 2019), human milk exchange (Palmquist et al, 2019), and maternal-infant sleep, breastfeeding, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Marinelli, Ball, McKenna, & Blair, 2019). The fourth critical appraisal article is Bai, Lee, and Overgaard’s (2019) analysis of conceptual congruence to evaluate the fidelity of theory-driven research.…”