DUBAI // Baby Elija fills up with breast milk every three hours – but the nine-month-old is not getting it from her mother.
She is one of the infants benefiting from the local chapter of Human Milk 4 Human Babies, a network active in 52 countries that was set up in 2010 so mothers could receive and donate breast milk.
The local branch was set up in 2011 as an informal milk-sharing group on Facebook and now has more than 450 members.
Elija's mother, Dane Tuboro, is one.
"I have been getting donated milk from generous mothers for the past four months," said Mrs Tuboro, who stopped nursing when she resumed work at a bank.
"I have low supply and it was tough to express milk at work. I fed my first son for 20 months because my workplace had space for me to pump.
"My husband and I decided that we would either go for camel's milk or donated milk, but not formula. The benefits of breast milk are the same no matter who the mother is. I am very thankful to the mums who have been feeding my baby. I hope I can give her breast milk until she is two."
Elija has so far received milk from five mothers. The group helps at least three mothers every month.
"Our group is an informal milk-sharing group," said Alicia Hol, one of the administrators of the chapter's board who has donated milk to at least a dozen babies over eight years, while nursing her own three children.
"We act like a community noticeboard and put donors and recipients in touch. There are many mums who need milk for all sorts of reasons, like kidney transplants, surgeries or have to travel or just don't have enough milk."
The Australian expatriate, who has pumped milk to feed three babies at a time for an entire year, is very proud to have helped struggling mothers.
"They say it takes a village to raise a child and we like to believe this is our own little village."
Fatima Tomoum, a mother of 14-month-old triplets, agreed.
"Wet nursing has been around for years in the Islamic world," said Mrs Tomoum, who fed her babies donated milk for a few weeks. "My father-in-law had a wet nurse and the families still keep in touch.
"My babies were born premature, at 26 weeks. While they were in hospital I was able to breastfeed but later the milk wasn't sufficient for all three of them.
"There are milk banks in Australia, where I come from. I researched and managed to get a couple of donations for a few weeks. I wasn't able to find a long-term donor but I'm still looking for offers."
In Islam, it is believed that if a baby takes five full feeds from the same mother, the child forges a milk kinship or "mahram" with the mother and her offspring. This means the children cannot marry each other. Brooke Bauer, who helped to set up the breast-milk network in the US and founded the UAE chapter, said families had built strong bonds after they started sharing milk.
"Often it is a long-term donation and mothers see each others' babies grow. They become friends," said the mother of three who has donated milk for about 40 children in more than four years in the UAE, UK and US, and is still donating.
Once parents contact the group by email or on Facebook, the request is emailed to regular donors and posted on the website.
The recipient may meet a donor to discuss her lifestyle, diet and views on breast milk. The onus is on the recipient families to research and decide.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/HM4HBUAE.
pkannan@thenational.ae
