Mothers Giving Breast Milk to Other Mothers

11-29-12 UCF KnightlyNews, Orlando, FL Kaitlyn Chana, Reporting Extended Story: Politics is a Hot Topic and so is Breastfeeding Firestorms of heated opinions come into play when asking questions like where is it appropriate to breastfeed, until how old, and is donating your milk to someone else's baby acceptable. One local organization is making a difference from one mother to another. Get Pumped, is a catchy name for a serious topic. This nonprofit organization provides breast milk to babies in Central Florida who, due to extraordinary circumstances, cannot be nursed by their own mothers. Director of Donor Relations, Michelle Seiler, said these babies are in need of this liquid gold. "They have a need for it -- its not just because its good for them. They need it to survive. They need it because they have a formula intolerance or maybe it's a medical condition." Seiler explained, some mothers are unable to produce milk, they are too sick or on hazardous medication. Other babies are unable to take in, retain, or utilize the calories needed from formula causing them to lose weight and become malnourished. This is called Failure to Thrive; if these babies receive poor nutrition, as an infant, it can cause developmental delays. Andrew Dunn was born premature and has already been through 4 surgeries, his mom Nancy Dunn couldn't pump enough breast milk while taking care of Andrew. The formula wasn't working for him either. Mrs. Dunn said, "For his digestive problems I could totally see the differences -- he had so many issues with the formula, but on breast milk he was fine." Luckily, another mom had plenty of breast milk to donate to Mrs. Dunn. I asked, her how she felt about feeding her baby milk from another woman's body? "I don't question it when I drink cows milk -- completely different species. No, I felt confident." To become a breast milk donor for Get Pumped you need to be a healthy lactating mom with no chronic illness. You need to have negative test results for HIV one and two, Syphilis, HTLV one and two, and Hepatitis