17 different women, 36 crazy children, 0 babies in utero
Adventures, Advice and Questions from a group of Mormon women who met in Queens, NY and have now scattered all over the place.
 

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Ben & Jerry's & Breast Milk

My mom tells a story about that time she was at a church event and the brownies were really really good, and the woman who prepared them said she had run out of milk, so she just used some of her breast milk instead.

I consider this one of many mormon lore stories that get filtered around...because I am not sure if my mom actually ate a brownie and was privvy to this conversation or if she heard this story 17th-hand....and since the last time I made brownies, no milk was involved in the recipe....who knows...mom, if you stop by, let us know.

And remember the story of the woman who had to sample her own breast milk to get it past security shortly after 9/11?

Ew.

So, I am all for my baby drinking my breast milk, or maybe even someone else's if I couldn't nurse myself. If you are in this situation, click here for instructions on how to get some breast milk for your baby. And I am ok with my neighbor nursing both her daughter and her friend's son, who were the same age and she was his caregiver during the day. If she was ok with it, I am ok with it. I don't think I could have handled all that nursing, but kudos to her.

I would also probably be ok with nursing someone else's newborn in an emergency situation, if I had the goods....past 4 months, probably not, but a little one I would be ok.

I am open when it comes to leaping over some breast-feeding boundaries....but I will no longer eat Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream if they give in to the pressure that PETA is putting on them to change over to human breast milk. Ick.

I get their point about humans drinking cow's milk, when human's should drink humans milk, but come ON....reading that article just gave me this vision of a giant factory full of women gabbing or reading a magazine or answering phones for an unrelated telemarketing compay (multi-tasking America), while their boobs were mechanically pumped of their milk on the hour.

Imagine.



ADDED LATER:

And speaking of breastmilk, can you imagine having to give your child away because of the 1 child per family rule:

posted by Kage @ 9/24/2008 06:23:00 AM   add to kirtsy


19 Comments:

  • yuck. i think it's all for publicity sake, not because they really expect people and companies to switch over. funny also that they consider it a "health issue" but they want to put it in ice cream of all things!

    (and I really hope the brownie thing was a mormon urban legend! i'll never be able to partake of church refreshments again if it isn't)
    posted by Blogger Jen at 9/24/2008 06:58:00 AM  



  • I didn't watch the video, but it sounds like a great plan (tic). We can have human dairy farms in poverty-stricken areas, so that women exercise and get fed a healthy, organic diet to increase their milk production and get paid a decent wage. Which of our presidential candidates will step up and embrace this?
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 9/24/2008 07:45:00 AM  



  • I've read that it's recommended that a mother who stores milk knows the taste of her milk, so if it has gone bad she can tell before giving it to her child.

    I've always had a problem with this and was thankful my girls didn't take to bottled breast milk too much, and I never had to really give it to them.

    Since people have such a variety of diets I wonder how that will affect the taste of the dishes breast milk is used in.

    "I ate garlic yesterday so you may not want to use mine for making ice cream."
    posted by Blogger Lacey at 9/24/2008 08:05:00 AM  



  • They cannot be serious.
    posted by Blogger Beth at 9/24/2008 08:37:00 AM  



  • Eww.
    posted by Blogger Claire at 9/24/2008 08:44:00 AM  



  • Oh PETA! So cute!

    I get their point, because it IS weird that we drink another mammals' breast milk, even give it to our babies instead of our own.

    However, uhm, no. NO.

    And I don't know about your mom's story, but I have two friends who at two different hospitals were served breastmilk brownies as a 'thanks' for delivering and caring for their babies. In one case, the staff had to get tested to make sure they hadn't been infected with one of the diseases that unpasteurized human milk can pass.


    Look, I may be the biggest lactivist around, but surreptitiously serving other people your milk in things is one of the biggest breaches of acceptability I can possibly think of, come ON PEOPLE!
    posted by Blogger Carina at 9/24/2008 08:49:00 AM  



  • "I ate garlic yesterday so you may not want to use mine for making ice cream." - that is hillarious.

    Maybe PETA just got bored and needed an issue that was sure to get consumers riled up.
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 9/24/2008 09:10:00 AM  



  • Hmmmmm...interesting. But I agree with the interviewee who said she thinks breast milk should be saved for children. Other adult mammals don't drink other animals' milk or their own milk...I don't think there's really a parallel.

    Can you imagine how much more expensive B&J's would be? There's no way it would happen.
    posted by Blogger Eliza at 9/24/2008 11:19:00 AM  



  • Yuck.

    We discovered a new Ben & Jerry's favorite: Imagine Whirled Peace. It's like sweet cream ice cream with toffee cookies and chocolate. It's so yummy.

    But I will stop buying it if they make it with human breastmilk.
    posted by Blogger Linz at 9/24/2008 12:19:00 PM  



  • My good friend ran out of milk and so made cookie icing with her breastmilk for a church function. Shh, don't tell.
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 9/24/2008 03:08:00 PM  



  • tobymine.....see that is WRONG WRONG WRONG! AH!

    My fave B & J right now is Cake batter.....yellow cake pieces, chocolate frosting swirl. sinful
    posted by Blogger Kage at 9/24/2008 04:48:00 PM  



  • First of all, I have nothing constructive to add to this conversation...but as this is a subject currently near and dear to my heart (get it?!), I have some commentary:

    1. Kage, you expect me to believe that in two (ish) years of breast feeding your two girls that you did not ONCE taste your own breast milk, even accidentally?

    Maybe it's me...I'm notorious for licking things I wipe up with my finger (picture extraneous drops of milk falling from the shields of the pump). But even if that hadn't happened unintentionally, I would have tried it out of sheer curiosity. And yes--you're welcome for that imagery.

    2. DO NOT visit this you tube link if you haven't had kids yet and aren't sure if you want to BFeed or not. It's disturbing...in a have-to-watch-it kind of a way.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxv6R9fUO74
    posted by Blogger HHRose at 9/24/2008 06:37:00 PM  



  • Oh come on! For real?

    I have heard of a husband who liked his wifes breast milk and that was enough for me. Using it for Ice Cream? Peta should start/fund an ice cream shop, or even a specific line (B&J's have yogurt--they can have a breast milk line too for all the animal lovers out there too).

    WOW.

    PS - the best flavor is Phish food hands down...
    posted by Blogger Melissa at 9/24/2008 06:42:00 PM  



  • hhrose, negative on the tasting....I felt satisfied by the sweet pungent smell I experienced too many times in the early days when I was a working and milking momma.....lots of accidents.....landing on a plane, the pressure...milk EVERYWHERE...it was a sensory experience involving the nose, not the tongue.

    I don't remember if DH intentionally tasted it, might've....

    If I ever do it again, I promise I will taste, just for you...on my way to youtube now
    posted by Blogger Kage at 9/24/2008 07:52:00 PM  



  • hhrose, HOW DID YOU FIND THAT MOVIE?

    OM.....that was something alright.
    posted by Blogger Kage at 9/24/2008 07:58:00 PM  



  • Kage, my mom found it many months ago when I was pregnant. EW EW EW.
    posted by Blogger HHRose at 9/25/2008 07:55:00 AM  



  • This is Kage's Mom who orginated the story...well kind of originated it...I heard it 2nd hand(?) ....I was not there...and they were eating chocolate pudding...not a chocolate brownie!
    posted by Blogger Lisa and Doug at 9/25/2008 01:39:00 PM  



  • lisa, mommy, thank you for the clarification.....pudding is WAY worse!!!! EW....
    posted by Blogger Kage at 9/25/2008 01:56:00 PM  



  • Please, PLEASE remember that breastmilk can spread diseases including HIV.
    WOuld you give your baby someone else's blood without having it tested? People!!! It this day and age of safe sex (or monogamy for us Mormons) you don't exchange bodily fluids with people.
    I know she may be your best friend, but are you absolutely know where she's been, or where her husband has been?
    And what about you? Before you breastfeed your friend's baby, be an educated considerate person and realize that it is the same as unsafe sex when it comes to certain diseases.
    Is it really 2008??? Because I get really frustrated when people forget about this stuff.
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 10/02/2008 11:29:00 PM  



Post a Comment

<< Home