Milksisters

Milksharing can, as with the sharing of blood, go through a structured system (milk bank analogue to blood bank), but there are also more informal ways. In The Netherlands the Mothers’ Milk Network is active since about 6 years. Basically this is database with donor and asking mothers. Donor mothers will have to do blood testing like blood donors do. The simplest way to share milk is when two women who know each other (neighbours, sisters, friends, …) nurse each other’s children or share their expressed milk. In the village the world turned into since the internet the pool in which to find a milksister is enlarged. On Facebook a grassroots movement (‘’Eats on feets’’ like ‘’Meals on Wheels’’) started en grew wide where donating and asking women can easily find each other. Shell, the woman who started the movement, advises mothers using other milk to be sure to check the source in order to prevent disease transmission.

Moedermelk Netwerk http://www.moedermelknetwerk.nl/donormelk.php

Sophia Moedermelkbank http://www.erasmusmc.nl/neonatologie/sophiamoedermelkbank/2475949/

Eats on Feets (NL) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eats-on-Feets-Nederland/102427463158613