Sweeping Guidelines on Donor Breast Milk Safety Issued by Top Pediatrics Group

— -- Breast milk has long been the gold standard for newborn nutrition. But in cases where breast milk is not available from an infant's mother, getting access to safe donor breast milk is not always easy throughout much of the country.

A new policy statement today from the American Academy of Pediatrics focuses on helping parents and doctors troubleshoot the new world of donor breast milk to reduce risk of disease or contamination.

The report includes the most comprehensive guidelines the AAP has released on safely using donor breast milk.

The AAP pointed out that 20 donor milk banks affiliated with the nonprofit Human Milk Banking Association of North America already adhere to guidelines that safeguard infants by requiring pasteurization and screening of donor milk. The AAP recommends that all donor breast milk be held to these guidelines, including required pasteurization and donor screening.

Many parents are still left to turn to online or other resources that are not as regulated as these milk banks, according to the AAP report.

“The use of donor human milk can save babies’ lives, but we need to make sure it is provided safely," Dr. Steven Abrams, lead author of the policy statement and a past member of the AAP Committee on Nutrition, said in a statement today.

The new AAP policy report finds that with a lack of donor milk readily available to all infants in need, underweight infants without access to their mothers' breast milk should be given priority access to the donor milk.

To protect infants from bacterial and viral pathogens, the donor milk should be pasteurized even if that means losing some nutritional benefits, the authors of the policy statement said. Other screening measures, including blood testing and medical screenings for donors, should be done to ensure infants are not exposed to medications or toxic environmental components through breast milk.

“The way to provide milk safely is through established milk banks that perform adequate safety checks and screening," Abrams said in today's statement. "Using milk from informal or online sources is simply too large a risk for infants, who could be exposed to bacteria and viruses like cytomegalovirus, hepatitis viruses, and HIV.”

With wide-spread access to donated breast milk still a new concept, the report authors acknowledge that new policies will have to be created to help safeguard the breast milk and to ensure it is affordable to everyone in need.

"The use of donor human milk in appropriate high-risk infants should not be limited by an individual’s ability to pay," the statement authors wrote. "Policies are needed to provide high-risk infants access to donor human milk on the basis of documented medical necessity, not financial status."