Finding something in your or your baby’s body on social media can in some cases be like finding a donut on the subway floor and eating it. You don’t know where it is and have to be careful about what you hear and find on social media or the Internet in general. Sharing breast milk is not the same as sharing photos, opinions about the Kardashians, or taking weeds.

Remember mother’s milk is body fluid. And there’s a reason you probably don’t easily share bottles of other types of body fluids with people you don’t know well. A jug of any body fluid doesn’t usually make a good housewarming gift. In addition, body fluids, such as breast milk, can carry various dangerous pathogens and substances, depending on who made it and how it was handled.

Of course, not all body fluids are created equal. They can differ in their likelihood of carrying different pathogens and substances. Still, you need to closely examine anyone who donates breast milk. In this case, screening doesn’t mean simply looking at a person’s dating profile pictures or asking that person, “Where do you see yourself in five years” or “What are you like in life?” This means knowing the health and health habits of the breast milk donor. This is why in 2017 the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine issued guidelines on how any human milk bank should screen all potential breast milk donors. The guidelines begin by saying, “Donors must be in good health.” This doesn’t mean asking the donor to do push-ups or walk through an obstacle course. However, this does mean that the donor should not be suffering from significant medical conditions at the time.

The guidelines also stipulate that the donor should not take any medicine or herbal preparation that is problematic for the baby. It is important to obtain a verifiable list of all drugs and supplements the donor is taking and look up each one on the Drugs and Lactation Database, otherwise known as LactMed. For each drug or supplement, Lactamed includes a summary of how it should be used during breast-feeding, the levels that may be present in the mother, milk, and infant, and the potential effects on the breastfed, breast-fed, and breast-fed infant.

In addition, the donor must be negative for the following viruses: human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus, and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). Such viruses can pass into breast milk and in turn infect the baby. It doesn’t have to be a donor-to-words-for-it situation. Looks are not enough. You can’t just say, “Oh that person doesn’t look hepatis-y.” Instead, a negative designation should be based on an official laboratory test result that has been done recently.

Finally, the guidelines listed a number of “social practices” that the donor should not have. One is using illegal drugs, marijuana, tobacco, or any other nicotine-containing products such as nicotine gum, nicotine patches, or e-cigarettes. Another is consuming alcohol in excess of a certain limit. This includes 1.5 oz (or 44 mL) of hard liquor or spirits, 12 oz (355 mL) of beer, 5 oz (148 mL) of wine, or a 10 oz (296 mL) wine cooler each day. A third either engages in activities risky for HIV transmission or has a sexual partner in the 12 months who may be at high risk for having or having HIV.

Of course, screening all of this and taking the appropriate precautions requires time, effort, resources, and expertise. This is why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “recommends against feeding your baby breast milk obtained directly from individuals or via the Internet.” This is because, “when human milk is obtained directly from individuals or via the Internet, the donor is unlikely to be adequately screened for infectious disease or contamination risk. Furthermore, it is unlikely that human milk has been collected, processed, tested or stored in a manner that minimizes the potential safety risk to the child.

Even if the donor meets all of the above criteria, the donor may not be pumping, handling and storing breast milk properly. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Women’s Health recommends keeping breast milk at room temperature for no more than four hours or in the refrigerator for more than four days after pumping. If any of these limits can be exceeded, it is better to freeze breast milk as soon as possible after pumping. Naturally, everyone should avoid touching breast milk directly and thoroughly clean any containers or other items that may have come into contact with breast milk. Otherwise, bad things can grow in the milk and turn into milk. salmonella Shots or any other type of pathogen-laden food.

There are definitely legitimate human milk banks that can provide safe breast milk as following good Morning America Mentioned section:

The FDA recommends that you talk to your doctor, an actual medical practitioner, before you consider using someone else’s milk. Your doctor can then help you decide if donated milk is the best route and, if so, help identify an appropriate human milk bank. Your state’s health department and the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) can also provide additional guidance. The way to find the legitimate source of milk is through legitimate sources. Again, just because a place calls itself a milk bank, doesn’t mean you can count on it being legit or following proper guidelines and procedures. Finding an alternative to infant formula formula is not just about finding any source of breast milk.