As parents in Canada and the United States grapple with a critical baby formula shortage, officials at human breast milk banks say they are concerned about the impact the shortages could have on families.
Lindsay Groff is the executive director of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, which accredits non-profit donor breast milk banks in the U.S. and Canada. Its 31 members include three of Canada’s four human milk banks.
Breast milk banks in the U.S. have been seeing a steady rise in demand for donor milk over the last few years, but that trend has increased sharply in recent weeks in the wake of the formula supply crisis, Groff said.
“We’ve been getting a lot more calls about donating milk, thankfully, and also for families scrambling to find a safe alternative to feed their baby, they are looking into donor milk,” she said.
“It’s very stressful, we’re hearing the stress in the calls and the emails coming in from people desperate to feed their babies so we hope this all levels out and gets resolved soon.”
The shortages are a bigger problem in the U.S., where parents who rely on infant formula have been scrambling to find safe alternatives for their babies.
But Canada has not been spared by formula supply challenges, namely in specialty formulas for children with allergies to cow’s milk protein or with certain health conditions.
Groff said milk banks in Canada haven’t been seeing the same increase in demand for donor milk, since supply shortages have been less acute, so far. But the banks have noted an increase in the number of mothers offering to donate their extra breast milk to help families in need of baby formula alternatives.
This places a different kind of pressure on milk bank staff, as it takes time to screen donors to ensure rigorous safety protocols are followed to guarantee a safe milk supply.
“The phone rings and moms call and they eagerly want to share their extra breast milk and there is a lot that goes into screening donors,” Groff said.
“There is a written interview, there is a verbal screening and also moms and lactating individuals also have to get a blood test. These things do take time and we are happy that many people are stepping up to the plate and inquiring about donating their extra breast milk.”
Jannette Festival, CEO of NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank in Calgary, says she believes part of the reason there hasn’t been the same demand in Canada for donated milk is because the country has a better system in place to support new mothers.
“(The U.S.) maternity leave is only six weeks, so most moms don’t have a chance to establish breastfeeding before they have to go back to work,” Festival said.
“We just don’t see that in Canada. We’ve got a very generous maternity leave, so moms are at home with their babies -— they are able to establish breastfeeding — so it just makes it a little bit easier to feed their own babies with their own milk.”
Festival says she is concerned about the baby formula shortage and how it could affect Canadian families if supplies are not returned to normal levels before too long.
“I am worried. There are many moms who can’t breastfeed and don’t have an alternative and their babies need specialty formulas. So hopefully with Canada and the U.S. allowing milk to come from other countries, possibly we may see that shortage alleviated soon,” she said.
The vast majority of donated breast milk in North America is sent to neo-natal intensive care units (NICUs) to feed medically fragile babies in hospitals. Other amounts are also dispensed at pharmacies for families whose babies are in need of additional supply for medical reasons.
But some milk banks do provide some donated milk for babies in the community, depending on their capacity and individual policies.
If families are desperate, they can apply to milk banks for a small, temporary amount of donated milk, Festival said. But this can be expensive and cannot be seen as a long-term alternative.
“Long-term we can’t because those healthy babies do drink a lot of milk. One bottle in the NICU could feed eight babies in a day. For healthy babies in the community, they would go through eight bottles themselves, so that’s not a solution for sure.”
Both Festival and Groff say they are encouraged to see more women in Canada stepping forward to donate their extra breast milk.
They hope women will continue to consider donating milk well into the future, as donor breast milk will remain a constant demand well after the baby formula crisis is resolved.