Breast milk offered after formula scare

Kelsie Brophy-Watts, middle, is admin of the group "Whangarei mums and bubs under 5's", where the conversations about sharing breast milk started.

Northland mums are offering to express their breast milk for formula fed babies following the 1080 contamination scare.

The offers came after one Whangarei mum suggested the idea on Facebook following the announcement Federated Farmers received an anonymous letter saying baby formula would be laced with 1080 if the Government did not stop using it as pest control by the end of March.

Kelsie Brophy-Watts is admin of the group "Whangarei mums and bubs under 5's", where the conversations about sharing breast milk started.

Mrs Brophy-Watts said the interest has been huge and about 30 Northland mums would be willing to express milk.

Mrs Brophy-Watts said she wanted to do it to help mums who couldn't breastfeed.

"It was a bit scary thinking that if something were to happen to the formula then the babies might not be okay. Cow's milk isn't recommended until the age of one."

Mrs Brophy-Watts said her first time expressing milk for other mums was the night she found out about the 1080 scare.

"I've been expressing since Tuesday night. You get a breast pump and you express about 160mls per feed which can take a while to express. Then, you label it with the date, time and the age of your baby because your milk is different at certain stages."

Jess O'Garra, another mum who had started expressing milk and storing it, said she didn't mind the time it took to express milk.

"It's made for human consumption, it's not everyone's cup of tea but personally I'd choose that over something that could be contaminated."

The collective's milk production parallels with Fonterra haven't gone unnoticed.

"It's pretty funny. We couldn't be like Fonterra in the long run, producing breast milk is a bit difficult," Mrs Brophy-Watts said.

Northland DHB Paediatrician Dr Catherine Bremner said there was a small risk in sharing breast milk.

"Sharing breast milk does carry a low rate of risk in terms of sharing transmissible (bodily fluid) illness such as Hepatitis B and C and HIV."

Dr Pat Tuohy, chief adviser - child and youth health for the Ministry of Health, advised mums to seek advice from experts before they expressed milk for others.

"We would advise volunteers considering expressing breast milk for others to only do so after consulting their midwife, Plunket nurse, or GP. You may also wish to talk to one of the specialised hospital-based milk banks. Wellington and Christchurch are among the centres which have milk banks."

*If you're interested in expressing milk or getting expressed milk visit the "Whangarei mums and bubs under 5's" group here for more information.