healthmedicinet

You share everything with your girlfriends, so you might as well breastfeed their babies too, right? Err…

That’s one of the concepts explored in new research from The Ohio State University. In the study, researchers surveyed 500 new mothers about their knowledge of breast milk sharing as well as if they had used donated milk or donated milk themselves. 

Here’s what the researchers discovered: Women who were educated and had higher incomes were more likely to be aware of the concept of breast milk sharing. They were also more likely to consider using another woman’s breast milk and to donate their own milk for another baby. Four percent of the women surveyed had either used donated milk or provided milk to another child, and nearly half of them did it with friends and relatives.

Yup, they either breastfed a friend’s or relative’s baby or had a friend or relative nurse theirs. That’s not shocking to Diane L. Spatz, Ph.D., a professor of perinatal nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and nurse researcher at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Spatz hosts a regular panel of breastfeeding moms and says several of the participants in the last panel mentioned that they cross-nursed. “Cross-nursing has always happened in certain communities, but it’s definitely increasing,” she says.

Why is it happening? Most women do it to help a friend or family member who is sick or has a lowered milk supply. “For women who are very informed about the benefits of human milk and the risks of infant formula, they feel like cross-nursing is a better-informed choice,” says Spatz.
 

But while 25 percent of the new moms who participated in the recent research were game to swap milk, 27 percent of the women surveyed said they hadn’t thought about safety when it came to using breast milk from another woman. That’s pretty risky—even if you’re getting milk from a friend, says women’s health expert Jennifer Wider, M.D.

“Human milk is a bodily fluid, and cross-nursing can spread diseases,” she says—those include hepatitis, HIV, and other STDs. Certain medications, caffeine, and alcohol can also be transmitted through the milk and affect your baby. “While you may pay close attention to what you put in your body, other women may not,” points out Wider.

And even just a difference in diet can make an impact. For example, if your friend has one more cup of coffee than you a day, the caffeine in it could affect your baby, keeping him awake and making him jittery.
 

Cross-nursing can also confuse or frustrate a baby who has bonded with his mother, says Wider, which can make it difficult for him to nurse on either one of you afterward.

There’s the psychological aspect of it, too, says Kristi Watterberg, M.D., a neonatalist and professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico. While Watterberg says the reaction really depends on the mother, she points out that if a mom has a friend or relative nurse her baby and then discovers something that upsets her about that person’s medical history or diet, there’s no going back. “Both outcomes might be stressful,” she says.

Watterberg also cites a 2012 study published in the Asian Journal of Transfusion Science that looked at people who received blood transfusions from relatives and friends instead of going to a blood bank, thinking it was safer. As it turns out, it wasn’t, and it put a lot of pressure on the friends or relatives who may have had something in their background they didn’t want to talk about. Meaning, it’s totally possible that your friend or sister has an STD that you’ll never know about because she’s embarrassed—but it could be transferred to your baby if she cross-nurses your child.
 

While the FDA doesn’t say that women shouldn’t cross-nurse, it does warn that feeding a baby with milk from a source that isn’t its mother is risky. It also says it’s best to talk to your doctor first.

Despite the risks, Wider notes that there are some potential benefits to cross-nursing. If a mom can’t breastfeed temporarily due to an illness and knows her friend’s medical history, the baby can get the benefits of breast milk in a situation where he or she might not otherwise have the opportunity. Wider also points out that you’re more likely to know your friend’s medical history and what she puts into her body, making her “probably safer” than a stranger.

But while experts stress that breast milk is the best way to feed an infant, Watterberg says we don’t really know how the actual milk from another source can impact your baby and whether it carries the same benefits as nursing your own child, like improved neurodevelopment.

So should you have your BFF cross-nurse your baby? Maybe. Just talk to your doctor first—and make sure you know everything about your friend’s medical history.