What is Eats On Feets and milksharing really about?

I would like to point out that there have been many errors printed and broadcasted about Eats On Feets.  Eats On Feets, is a play on the name of the organization, Meal on Wheels, which delivers nutritious meals to house bound people.  Unlike Meals on Wheels where there is active participation from the volunteers,   EOF pages are simply a place for mothers and families to come together and get acquainted. The pages merely serve as a place for the first contact.  The volunteers who help administer the pages are there to re-post needs, requests, and other information that may be of interest to the “likers” of the page. They also insure that the page stays true to the mission statement. They are not there to give advice or opinion, or to facilitate any matches. It is up to the families to private message each other and begin to the process of getting to know each other and sharing milk if they so desire.

It is evident that EOF is monitoring news articles and blogs to counter concerns and misinformation brought up. There was a fine example of this on December 10, 2010 in an article on health.usnews.com. (http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=647203 ) There was an error printed in it, EOF administers saw it and upon notification, the author promptly corrected it. On the other hand, many news organizations choose to sensationalize milk sharing with headlines like those that say FDA warns against, CPS calls it dangerous, the ick factor.  Regrettably, many reporter and bloggers have not bothered to investigate the EOF website or Facebook pages fully or to understand their purpose.

 Dr. Lawrence states, “If these [donors] are your best friends and they're in good health with no underlying diseases, then fine.”  This was part of the concept of the local chapters. The idea of the chapter pages is that participants get to know each other. Recipients can ask questions of the donors in regards to life style choices- what are your eating habits, do you consume alcohol, is there any exposure to second-hand smoke or any other health concerns.  Recipients can ask for health information on the donor mother/child dyad to insure that they are healthy. The best match would be one where the babies/children are close in age so it is likely that these children will know each other and become friends as well as milk siblings.

I believe that part of the appeal of EOF is this personal connection. Donor mothers want to know where their milk is going and to able to watch another baby thrive on their milk. Recipients get a chance to see the [donor] baby that is receiving the milk first hand and see how that baby is healthy and happy. Many of the articles make it appear that strangers are meeting in dark alleys opening a trench coat to show their wares at the request of a mom saying, “Do you have the goods?” This is very far from the truth. Typically, the family receives the milk personally, as opposed to it arriving informally via the mail. This again allows for face-to-face time between the donors and recipients. It also facilitates the families in getting to know each other on a more personal level.  Again, Eats on Feets is not about connecting strangers, but about creating communities and relationships.

The FDA and Health Canada keep putting out warning about informal milk sharing. Eats on Feets asserts that is not about informal sharing, but rather it is about IN-formed sharing.  As questions arise, they are answered with evidence-based information on the FAQ page.  The FAQ page is a living document, similar to the living milk families are sharing.  The chapters of EOF are helping to create communities where families help families. Perhaps the health agencies would be better serving their communities by offering evidence-based information instead of the fear mongering that they are doing.

The health agencies need to be giving out information about proper techniques for pumping and storage of milk, instead of implying that even mothers who pump for their own child might be putting them at risk. They should be presenting facts on the risks, instead of implying that every mother out there might be a living factory for AIDs and other bacteria. They would do better with giving information to the families on what health risks there really are with accurate percentages. What questions they should ask in regards to health and lifestyle to ensure the safety of using donor milk. They could present information about flash pasteurization as a viable option if there are still concerns about bacteria. Perhaps they should be encouraging develop of more home tests for alcohol and drugs or perhaps a test for bacteria.

With all the research out there pointing to the health benefits of human milk to human children, along with the research pointing to the money saving aspects, the heath agencies should be doing everything they can to help promote more babies receiving breastmilk. Insurance companies would also serve themselves well to be assisting with the costs. This is particularly important to the United States as we move towards universal health care.  How much money will we save ourselves if we insure that children, up to at least the age of two, receive the benefits of human milk?