LISTEN TO ARKANSAS PUBLIC MEDIA’S 30-MINUTE DOCUMENTARY, “FEEDING BABY HANNAH: HUMAN MILK SHARING IN ARKANSAS,” REPORTED, CO-PRODUCED AND HOSTED BY BOBBY AMPEZZAN.

For several generations now, new mothers who cannot breastfeed had a ready, if not ideal, replacement — infant formula. Today, many of these mothers have another option — others’ breast milk.

Arkansas Public Media spent hours with new moms on the frontier of this sometimes charitable, sometimes commercial, community.

Sharing breast milk is unregulated, and some health professionals caution against it, or at least, against breast milk that isn’t pasteurized.

But, as one mother put it, the benefits simply outweigh the risks.

“Feeding Baby Hannah: Human Milk Sharing In Arkansas” originally aired 10 Aug 2018 on KUAR-Little Rock. It subsequently aired on KASU-Jonesboro, KTXK-Texarkana, Texas, and KUAF-Fayetteville.

For the full feature news story and supplemental sound of other new moms speaking of their experiences both receiving and sharing — even selling — breast milk, visit “Breast Milk, Elusive For Some New Moms, The Focus of Facebook Groups, Sales Sites.”