Mothers Sharing Breastmilk: What's It All About?

I have often mused that there are thousands of ounces of pumped breastmilk in the freezers of mothers in my city alone, some of which they might not ever need.  What if it could be offered to babies whose mothers were not able to provide a full milk supply?  I became a Certified Lactation Counselor in 2001 and heard of milk sharing over the years; I knew it had its supporters and its critics, but I did not know the details of how it was actually being practiced in real life.  A few years ago, Emma Kwasnica and I met as childbirth advocates on Facebook, and recently I had the chance to learn more about her organization, Human Milk 4 Human Babies.  I was moved by the mission of the project and the reach it has had in just a few years -- mothers from 52 countries have participated in "informed milk sharing" through HM4HB.  Below, Emma explains the history of the organization.

When Mothers Don't Make Enough Milk

Nature's design is for mothers to have a slight oversupply of milk during the first couple months of breastfeeding.  In spite of this, one of the top concerns new mothers report is a worry that they are not producing enough milk.  Sometimes this is an incorrect assumption; other times it is an actual problem--caused by a lack of support and information about how to create a normal milk supply, or because of a possible underlying medical issue.  Lactation consultant and doula Jessica Lang Kosa, PhD, IBCLC, shares a post here reprinted from her blog at MotherFeeding.com, explaining this phenomenon and what a lactation consultant would do to help turn the situation around.