Wet-Nurse and Breast Milk Bank

Abstract

Breastmilk is a natural, easy-to-digest food with high-bioavailability that meets the neonate's optimum growth and development needs in terms of the components it contains. Breastmilk and breastfeeding have many benefits for both the baby and the mother. However, some infants cannot be breastfed after birth for various reasons (mother's death, etc.). For such situations, the WHO, UNICEF and the Ministry of Health (Turkey) propose that another mother can breastfeed the infant. The concept of "mother's milk bank", which has been practiced in our country for many years, corresponds to this suggestion. However, the prevalence of diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis and the rapid growth of the formula industry have led to the abandonment of this traditional practice over the years. In many countries, mother's milk banks have been established to solve this problem. However, the few studies done in our country show that there are divergent views on the establishment of mother's milk banks. As a result, the possibility of creating an acceptable version of mother's milk bank in our country needs to be discussed. As an another result, instead of the mother's milk banks, "wet nurse centers" can be established to offer the same service in Turkey. Thus, the project of reviving "wet nurse and milk sibling" can be an effective solution. The aim of this study is to draw the attention of the community and the health personnel to the concept of wet-nurse and breast milk bank.