My name is Jazmin. I got with this community 4 years ago. My sons Winslow and Huntley have benefit from this community since Winslow was 6months old! I dried up at the surprise pregnancy of Huntley! Then when Huntley was born late preemie at 36 weeks we were back on the community to help build a stock to supply a new born and 17month old! I don't know what I'd do without this community and the mommies that are a part of it! I will always be so grateful! Both my boys were able to make it to 2 years,I will also add that due to the help we got Huntley safely through a positive COVID at only 10 days old!

Jazmin

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Our families story began twelve years ago as a first-time mum, having a baby born at 32 weeks, a very low breast milk supply, and an IGT diagnosis. As we prepared for discharge eight weeks later, we were told that my little one no longer qualified for donor milk from the milk bank, and we had to transition to formula before discharge. I called out for advice and support in my local community, and my community rallied to our aid, offering their extra milk and recommending that I visit the Eats on Feets website to become informed about community milksharing. The Eats on Feets community and safety information proved to be an invaluable resource as our family grew over the following seven years. We welcomed three more babies who required donor milk and the generosity of our community. All four of my babies were blessed by many donors and were exclusively fed donor milk for 12 months and beyond. Community milk sharing has made an incredible impact on our lives; not only were my children nourished with donor milk, but we have also made lifelong friendships and consider many of our donors to be family. Our experience forged a strong passion inside me to create awareness about community milksharing and support other families in becoming informed about safe community milksharing. I am profoundly thankful for the support, love, and generosity extended to us, I will persist in promoting donor milk as a primary option to supplement one's own milk supply and support safe community milksharing for as long as I can.

Erin, EOF admin

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12 1/2 years ago, when my son was 7 months old, I found out I was pregnant again. My milk started drying up. He had a dairy allergy and refused soy formula. I looked to buy breast milk but with 4 kids and one on the way I didn't have that kind of funds. When they say this is liquid gold, it is!!

I went back home to visit friends and my son was living on what little I produced, juice, water, sweet potatoes oatmeal and he was miserable. He had Eczema & was having diarrhea daily. My friend gifted me her stash of milk and said this is how I help the community. I was like excuse me lol She said yes through eats on feets Louisiana. I bet NC had one too. I searched and they did! I got back home with her stash on dry ice, made a post and two people later I had enough to support him till he was a little over a year. His stomach healed, his skin was beautiful and my baby was so happy. I will be forever grateful for Eats on Feets and I would recommend to anyone!

Megan

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I found out I was pregnant with my son in March 2011. I was excited to have a single birth since my first pregnancy was twins, and I was thinking I was going to have a much easier pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding journey.

Well, life had other plans! My son was born when I was only 6 months along, and he weighed only 2lbs, 12oz. 1270 grams. I'll never forget that number because that was the 4 digit code I used when I called to check on him in the NICU, where he spent the first 89 days of his life.

I had to have an emergency c-section due to a spontaneous uterine rupture, so I struggled to pump breastmilk for my little preemie, and I knew he really needed it. Fortunately for me, my sister was breastfeeding my nephew at the time, so she pumped milk and sent it overnight to us from 600 miles away!

I had to Google information about shipping, storing, and feeding donor breastmilk which led me to Eats on Feets. I quickly found my local chapter's Facebook page and was able to find over 55 breastmilk donors for my son, and he was able to have breastmilk for his first 20 months of life. He's now 13 and bigger than me and his dad, and perfectly healthy, and I believe it's due to the all the breastmilk donors that he is really thriving. I'm so grateful to Eats on Feets for helping me learn to share milk safely and connect with my community when I needed help.

Alicia

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With my second I got severe mastitis and was septic at 6weeks. We had friends and community members donate milk for her to 9 months. With our third we were extremely blessed with a local person to donate milk for our son for his 1st year of life. ❤️❤️

Arianna

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My twin daughters were born in 2019. They were born at 37 weeks and were less than 6 lbs at birth. Twin A was a champion breast feeder but Twin B struggled. Around 5 months Twin B was borderline failure to thrive. She wasn't gaining weight, was still not even on the growth chart, and was having trouble waking from naps and bedtime due to lethargy. She was diagnosed with low muscle tone, which was affecting her ability to effectively transfer milk. We started supplementing her with bottles of donated milk from women that I connected with through Eats on Feet's. Within a week she was a different baby! By one year old she was on the growth chart and she's now a very healthy 6 year old.

Rachel

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February 23 2024 my baby was born with cleft lip and cleft palate.

I was Determined to pump and give her my milk as she could not nurse let me tell you it was hard !!!

After alot of stress feeding tubs and a g- tube for the first year of life and Three times in the hospital for failure to thrive my supply tanked and at 6 months I got pregnant and with the support and love from all of you my baby got the milk she needed for the first year of her life!!! ❤️

She still has a long way ahead of her with more surgeries and speech therapy and bone graphing and everything but we are thriving now.

Stephanie

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Hi! So I figured you'd get a lot of emails about how thankful moms are for donated milk, & how grateful families are to have the opportunity to provide breastmilk longer ect.

But on the other side of the donation world, I want to say I am thankful for this groups for allowing me to make room in my freezer, for introducing me to a few moms who became friends & making my pumps worth it. I am clog prone & have an over supply so it's a balancing act to nurse enough, pumping enough, and gives me a peace of mind that I'm not pumping for no reason. I donated milk to a friends baby I saw posted on your page, for 10 months, I recently donated my whole freezer to a mom with a baby in the nicu, and Ive donated randomly here & there. It makes pumping worth it!

Robin

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I had my daughter in 7/2024 and was blessed enough to be an over producer. I then met another mom and was able to donate my milk to her child. I was able to feed her baby and my own for over 6 months!

Sarah M.

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I gained a best friend and was able to help feed not just one but 2 of her sweet babes❤️.

Millie

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When I had my first baby, he nursed well and I had, what I feel, was an easy experience breast feeding. Flash forward to my second baby, a beautiful girl. I thought my experience would be similar to the first, but I was so wrong.

By the third day, I was so defeated and so frustrated that she would not latch, whatever the reasons - her reasons - were. I started pumping every 2 hours starting when my girl was 3 days old and saw a LC to try to find solutions. Pumping was so hard on me, but I wanted my baby to stay on breast milk if we could make it work, and we did together. Through pumping, I made sure I stayed with pumping every 2-3 hours, even during the night. I started to overproduce, but it wasn't by much but it was more than she needed and I built up a stash of milk in the freezer. I was thrilled that I didn't have that hanging over my head and didn't have to worry about having enough milk, enough food, to give to my baby.

Then I remember the formula shortage. Heartbreaking as it was! I remembered thinking how those parents had nothing to give to their baby. I started to research and found that milks banks and milk sharing groups and sites were trying to get milk to these hungry babes. I thought how amazing it would be to help, and I found Eats on Feets. It was a way to connect with babies locally. It was a face to the donation. I donated only a few hundred ounces over about 1.5 years, but to some families, any amount matters.

I'm still Facebook friends with one mother I connected with. I love seeing the little babe. I'm so glad Eats on Feets exists so that every little babe has a chance to have a full tummy.

If anything about this reads strange, please know that I'm typing this during nap time of the same and sometimes you just have to type things quickly. Hope that my story resonates with at least one person who then donates to a babe in need.

Amy, EOF admin

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I exclusively pumped for the first 12 months of my son's life. I was an over producer with a small freezer. Eats on Feets connected me to moms local to me that I could donate my extra milk to. After my pumping journey concluded, i fed 5 babies including my own, easily donating 200-300oz per baby!

Kelsey

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I am so thankful my lactation consultant told me about milk sharing!

Our breast feeding journey has always been a tough one. I was induced at 36+6 due to preeclampsia and my daughter struggled to have the energy to breastfeed. Luckily I was able to express and had enough milk to bottle feed her while she grew strong enough to be able to latch and feed effectively. She was 4 weeks old when she finally figured out how to breastfeed and refused bottles from then on. At 4 months she was diagnosed with a tongue tie which we got fixed and at the same time my supply dropped so she became very fussy at the breast and was trying to feed every hour. I was started on domperidone and told to pump twice a day to increase my supply. As she was still refusing bottles our freezer was overflowing with milk that I had no use for. When I was told about milk sharing I put a post up and had a huge response which cleared out my initial freezer load.

Just after this our daughter ended up with a nasogastric tube for top up feeds to increase her weight. I was finally able to use some of my expressed milk for my own little girl but still had ample extra bags that I continued to donate to two wonderful mummas. After the nasogastric tube was removed 4 months later I no longer had a need for any milk again but was still pumping twice a day to maintain my supply in order to be able to breastfeed my daughter. I continued to donate my milk to the two mummas I had gotten to know who are so appreciative and it gave me great pleasure being able to help them with their feeding journey!

Jayde

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I was traveling, staying in Az for 3 days when my baby was close to weaning. I figured I'd pump and dump while gone and by the time I got back, he was ready to be weaned anyway. Regardless, it broke my heart to think I'd be wasting precious breast milk. I posted something about it on Facebook and a bunch of friends chimed in about Eats on Feets. I was overjoyed to get connected in Scottsdale and be able to share probably 40 ounces of breastmilk!!

Shelly

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Last but not least, we have many donors who have angel babies. Theirs is an amazing gift. The memory of their babies are a blessing!

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our stories and have them published! My story has many emotions, please read with an open heart:

In August of 2023, we joyfully embraced the news of expecting our fifth child. The early stages of this pregnancy unfolded with the predictability we had come to cherish from our previous four children, filling our hearts with anticipation for the arrival of another little boy to join our family. However, as we prepared our home for Christmas celebrations, our dreams were shattered as we faced the heart-wrenching loss of our sweet boy at just 20 weeks and one day, due to a placental abruption.

In the days that followed, as I began to prepare for the postpartum journey ahead, I was taken aback to discover that my milk had come in. In an impulsive yet instinctual response, I retrieved my collection cups and realized it was still possible to establish a milk supply. In those somber moments of reflection, I understood that this was a path I needed to pursue. With urgency, I sought out a second-hand pump while awaiting the arrival of my own, and my supportive community rallied around me, providing milk bags and sterilization supplies.

As I immersed myself in research on milk donation, I found that Eats on Feets resonated with our needs the most profoundly. Little did we realize, this organization would play a pivotal role in our healing process, one donation at a time. Ultimately, I was able to pump nearly 2,000 ounces—over 15 gallons of milk—nourishing six different babies in the process. The years 2023 and 2024 unfolded in ways we had not anticipated, yet amid the unexpected, we discovered a profound sense of peace in how our journey evolved. I will always recommend Eats on Feets, as this organization holds such a special place in my heart.

Ellisa

As milksharing has grown more widespread in our society, it has shown up on the radar of people with ill-intentions. Nearly every day we receive alerts from people who paid or were asked to pay for shipping milk that does not exist. We also receive alerts about people flipping milk, ie. requesting in one group and selling it in another. We remove these people as we become aware of them, but this, unfortunately, is usually not before someone has already been scammed.

Eats on Feets has long maintained that the self-determination of families is extremely important for the safe community-based sharing of human milk. Our community groups are public so that no one is at the mercy of an admin to be added or have their post be approved and we do not believe that making our groups private will prevent scams from happening. Eats on Feets cannot take responsibility for screening people nor do we want to give the impression that joining or posting in our community groups means that any individual has been screened by the administrators of the Eats on Feets network. People who use our network do so at their own risk.

Someone who

• Offers to ship for a fee or partial fee (May say they work for a courier company and do this all the time.)
• Requests a large amount only (Possible milk flipping.)**
• Donates as well as sells on various platforms and tries to have you pay (Supposedly thought you were on a selling site.)
• Declines to meet in person and has you drop your milk off or leave it out
• Offers to send you bags via an online store directly
• Declines to answer your questions or is vague about health, lifestyle, and proper handling of milk
• Reacts offended by your questions
• Declines to share a picture of themselves with their baby
• Declines to offer a reference if asked
• Has a new FB profile with few friends and pictures***
• Feels off to you

... may indeed be scamming you!

Please make us aware of any suspicious activity in your area and report any wrongdoing to the admins of your community group. You can also email us. This helps us protect community-based milksharing and the tiniest humans benefitting from it.

We know how much time and effort goes into feeding a baby. We especially appreciate all the donors who selflessly donate their extra milk to a baby in need. While Eats on Feets does not allow selling, buying, and bartering in our spaces and via our spaces, we do not dictate any ensuing milksharing relationship between donors and recipients. Recipients are free to thank their donors however they wish!

My Background

I'm a first time mom to a little boy. We spent hundreds with specialists, trying to make nursing work, but ultimately I ended up having to pump. Through the pumping process, I learned that I had a significant oversupply. I pumped for 10 months (720 hours I spent tied to a pump... but who's counting?!) After my kiddo was diagnosed with a dairy allergy at 6 weeks old, I had lots of milk leftover that was completely unusable.. I knew right away that I wanted to donate to caregivers in need. On top of that, being able to provide dairy-free milk to other allergy babes was a huge blessing as well. In total, I was able to help feed 13 babies at one point or another between regular + emergency donations during my breastfeeding journey.

My Motivation for Volunteering

I know that it takes volunteers on every side of this to make it work (donors volunteering their time to pump + bag, admins and moderators volunteering their time to run the pages, and owners volunteering their time and energy to ensure that the program works as it should). I was thankful to be able to contribute in another way, as I believe that milksharing is a monumental testament of "It takes a village".

My Life

I'm a first-time mama to a 1.5 year old boy. My husband and I have been together for 8 years; we have two doggos + a cat, and spend most of our 'free' time doing things as a family. I'm a photographer, executive assistant, and virtual assistant, and the biggest carb enthusiast you will meet!

• Favorite Dish: Texas Roadhouse Bread + Butter (usually, way too much)
• Favorite Past-time: Reading the same book 100 times to my toddler
• Favorite Animal: Doggos!
• Bucket List Item: Explore Greece!

The commodification of private arrangement human milk adds serious ethical issues to the safety of community-based milksharing. Some issues are:

• The milk may be someone else's donation
• The milk may not be human at all
• The milk may be cut with other liquids
• The milk may come from multiple unknown donors
• A baby may be deprived of its own milk when a family is on government assistance and receives formula for their baby
• Studies have shown that purchased human milk contains higher levels of bacterial contamination

One of our main motivations for this is that Eats on Feets aims to remove socio-economic barriers to accessing human milk. It is our hope that all babies have access to free human milk. We are also mindful of barriers that donors may have in order to donate their extra milk. Bags and pump parts add up. Reusable containers are an option as well as other ways of expressing milk. When someone has a good supply, which donors have, hand expression is very efficacious. Using passive collection and pressure collection with a jar are also great methods. Pumps have a place, certainly, but pump companies are making the same huge profits over our nipples as formula companies do.

If you are new to milksharing through Eats on Feets, welcome! Please acquaint yourself with our guidelines. Even if you are not new to milksharing, it is important to keep using discernment when practicing community-based milksharing. Our guidelines were developed to promote safety and equity within our communities and we have operated within these parameters since 2010 when we started making ripples.

When I went back to work at 6 weeks postpartum, my milk supply began to dwindle. I had a stash at home but quickly worked through this and began to panic. I could only pump maybe an ounce from each breast at work and I only got to pump twice a shift. I would go up to 4 hours sometimes. I didn't know then, but I know now, that that was a huge cause of my supply issue. Breastmilk doesn't regulate by 6 weeks postpartum! A friend of mine recommended looking into a donor. I used Facebook to connect with people who had milk to offer. I was skeptical but had to go with my instinct.

The women who donated to me were a blessing. One woman even drove me an emergency 100 ounces one evening when I realized my baby wasn't latching and I had run out of bags in my freezer. I wish I still had her number so I could tell her all about how my second journey is going and how she inspired me. Thanks to the woman who saved me so many times, I was able to avoid formula (and the tummy troubles it gave my baby). My first baby is now 5 and she knows she was breastfed exclusively by me for a couple of months and then we got support from other women to get us to 6 months. She is actually a cheerleader for me on this journey. Whenever her brother cries, she quickly tells me to, "Give him the boob!" It's funny to me that part of my support system is a human I created and breastfed.

I felt so touched by the women who helped me with my first that I am so blessed to be able to help others. It has come full circle and I feel that I am finally able to give back. Those looking into milksharing, especially those who are receiving it, do not feel anything less than pride. You are doing what is best for your baby. You did not fail. I thought I failed my daughter for so long but I realized that some things just can't be changed. I had postpartum depression and anxiety that was made worse by my lack of production. I stopped trying to breastfeed altogether and this improved my mental health. Sometimes, you have to know when to quit. If the journey is making you miserable, you should stop. It shouldn't make you miserable. You'll be tired and you'll smell pretty awful some days but you shouldn't let the journey come between you and your mental health because then you are no longer doing what's best for your baby. Some things are simply out of our hands. That's why donors are important and without the women who need the donors, the circle would be incomplete. Thank you to those who need milk and thank you to all those who have given milk. Every drop counts.

There are many reasons why someone may not be able to fully provide their own milk for their baby. We do not judge families or use any form of hierarchy to determine which babies receive milk through our network. Eats on Feets simply provides a safe space to initiate contact, a website with safety information, and guidelines for using our Facebook chapter pages.

The focus of Eats on Feets is the singular issue of informed community-acquired donor milk for babies in need. Community-acquired to us means direct family-to-family, without intermediaries. To support this focus we have honed and crafted our guidelines over time to adjust to the growing demand and to address unsafe practices around the internet.

When it comes to media coverage and recommendations from organizations like the AAP on supplemental infant feeding, community-based milksharing is often overlooked as a safe and sustainable infant feeding method. This is not only an often purposeful oversight but also irresponsible. Case in point: Most coverage of the current formula shortage as well as official suggestions from most, otherwise, reputable organizations only include where to look for formula, reiterating to not feed home-made formulas, goat or cow's milk, to not dilute, etc. There is typically no mention of the obvious: that families with human milk to feed their own baby can safely help families in need.

We have been inundated with news sources wanting to interview us on the topic of the formula shortage. To date these little sound bites and tiny quote grabs have failed to fully represent Eats on Feets and the issues at hand.

Below we are providing answers to the questions that we have been asked.

Hi Kim! Thank you for taking the time to speak with me! Let's start with the basics. Tell me about all of the various projects that you are working for.

Hi Shell! I am an IBCLC at the Valleywise Hospital in Phoenix, AZ. I am also an Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor co-instructor, a board member of the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), a member of the Navajo Nation Breastfeeding Coalition, and recently, a member of the Arizona Department Maternal Mortality Review Committee.

That is impressive! I know from experience that only passion and deep commitment keeps someone focused as you are!

Well, when I moved to the city it was a culture shock! At home, I grew up seeing breastfeeding and my grandmother encouraged it. It was normal for the women in my family to breastfeed. Milksharing wasn't uncommon either from the stories told by my parents when I had my own children.

It does not matter if you have 5 kids or you are a first-time parent, one thing we have all had to think about is how are we going to feed them? With what? Today we are going to talk about breastmilk in a capacity that maybe you did not hear about at the hospital. Community Breastmilk Sharing – what is it? Is it safe? Risks? If you did not ask all these same questions about other options, you need to really think about why.

What is community breastmilk sharing? Well, when I needed breastmilk for my daughter, I would post on Eats on Feets Facebook page in my community and wait for a response or ask for the help from the page's admin team. The details from there would vary but essentially, we would talk online, by phone, or in person and I had never done this before, so I had to do research. The beauty of Eats on Feets, the reason they have my respect is they did the research. They did the research and left it out there for everyone to read and look up themselves. The sources and information are reputable and updated as needed. I used those resources when I spoke to the potential donors and I answered their questions. When we were comfortable enough and decided to move forward, we decided to meet in a place where we agreed we were comfortable, and I would get breastmilk and I would give her breastmilk storage bags in exchange. This is not something that is required, but that is how I chose to say "Thank you." We parted ways until I was in need and then I would see if they had any available. My daughter had 12 different donors, they're all heroes in my book!

When I chose community breastmilk as a source that meant researching an entire person, we call this Donor Screening, and that is not something a lot of people are comfortable with. I certainly had never done it before. I am the boldest, outspoken, type A personality you have ever met and it made me weird to dive into someone else's personal business asking about: their health, vaccines, medications, smoker/non-smoker, all kinds of stuff right? It was difficult for me and I felt so embarrassed that I would come to them asking them for something only they could produce for my child and have the audacity to interrogate them about their choices. I already felt bad enough that my own body had failed me in the one place I thought it should not have (mental health, it is important!) and here I am in Wal-Mart parking lot questioning a stranger for their milk my daughter so desperately needed. EOF helped me through it and that mother (who I will not name for privacy), she hugged me, and I cried, and she willingly answered all my questions. I had written them down because I knew I would not remember. She even told me some to ask next time. (I am crying right now). This is a personal and emotional choice, so you do your research and you make sure you are comfortable doing this and asking the hard questions. If you need help, you ask for help. Screen your Donors, if you find out they will not answer questions, or they seem like they are not being transparent: contact EOF immediately. Safety first will always be our motto!

The next thing I want to talk about is safe handling, this is for Donors and those receiving the donations. It is important for everyone to keep their spaces in their homes clean where the milk is handled, keep hands clean, keep bags and equipment for collection clean. This also means proper storage, transportation, and shipment of breastmilk. Community breastmilk sharing should never have more risks than if you were breastfeeding your own child. Are there risks? Yes. Like with everything in life there are risks, but those same risk factors can be applied to those being fed in a hospital NICU setting, in a park, or at home. To date there have not been any documented cases of disease transmission or bacterial infection through community breastmilk sharing. If you still have concerns let us move along…

If you want to participate in community breastmilk sharing but you have doubts about things, there is always home pasteurization. What is that? The first method is like flash heating, you heat the milk to an extremely high temperature for a short amount of time (please note: this may diminish the milk's nutritive properties). The second method is like Holder pasteurization (like what milk banks use) it is where the milk is exposed to a low temperature for a long time (please note: this may diminish the milk's nutritive properties). I never used either. Why? Breastmilk is best raw, it holds the lowest rate for bacterial infection, and it retains all its nutritional properties. Pasteurizing breastmilk has been shown to raise the risk of spore forming bacteria such as bacillus cereus.

Be Informed. Screen Your Donor. Handle everything safely. Pasteurize or don't pasteurize.

Eats on Feets especially acknowledges the need of Black communities for breastfeeding and breastfeeding support as well as the need for healing historical trauma so as to diminish racial and health disparities.

Black lactating parents have unique barriers. Their generational breastfeeding history is complex and trauma-filled. Black women were wet nurses in slavery, being forced to breastfeed and nurture the slave owners' children, often to the detriment of their own children. This has created and continues to create barriers to breastfeeding and milksharing among Black families.

Community-acquired breastmilk, when needed, can help diminish racial disparities in breastfeeding rates and can improve health outcomes. As is our purview, we will continue to advocate for equitable access to human milk for the health of babies. We are aware that representation matters. Eats on Feets represents families of color in memes and graphics on our network pages, and we highlight the disparities, as well as the celebrations, of BIPOC during Black Breastfeeding Week (8/25-31) and Native Breastfeeding week (8/9-15).

We are committed to the continued education within our network on issues of equity, anti-racism, and reproductive justice, making resources available to all our volunteers.

The Four Pillars of Safe Breast Milk Sharing, an article written by Shell Walker Luttrell and Maria Armstrong, is featured the 2012 Spring edition of Midwifery Today.

Click here to view it.

Pubmed Citation

What do volunteers do?

Volunteers work in teams to maintain and foster their local Eats on Feets community spaces. We have guidelines in place that support safe and informed milksharing and we monitor our spaces so they stay within these parameters.

Volunteers also regularly share information to inform our community members about safe milksharing practices or to remind them to check their freezers for example.

Some volunteers are moderators of their Community Group, while others manage their local Page. Some do both. Some take multiple Pages under their wing, some support and guide multiple teams of volunteers, and some answer media inquiries. There is much room for growth and fulfilment!

Volunteering for Eats on Feets also means working as a team and being comfortable communicating with each other. Our volunteers form a community as well and we work together in various spaces to be creative, collaborative, and effective. Clear and direct communication is extremely important to us.

For questions about safe milksharing, please refer to our Resource for the Informed Sharing of Human Milk which contains the available safety information that offers parents, caretakers, and professionals the tools to make informed decisions about milksharing.

Thank you for your interest!

If you would like to volunteer for the Eats on Feets community in your area, message your local chapter or email us so we can send you an application!