Turkish Women’s Beliefs Concerning Human Milk Banking

Abstract

Background: A donor milk bank provides an alternative source of human milk for mothers who cannot breastfeed or provide their own milk. Although wet-nursing is a common practice, there is currently no donor milk bank in Turkey. Research Aims: The aims of our study were (1) to determine the knowledge and opinions of Turkish women in regard to donor milk banking; and (2) to raise awareness of donor milk banking. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional descriptive study, in which the data were collected with an online survey consisting of 22 questions. The link to the online survey was distributed through the social media accounts of the researchers, with a statement inviting women aged 18–64, who were literate and actively using social media, to participate in the survey. There were 648 female participants. Results: Of those who responded to the questionnaire, 54.1% had not previously given birth, and 54.2% had heard about donor milk banks before. The implementation of donor milk banks in Turkey was desired by 56.4% of the participants, and 50.8% of the participants considered donating their milk. It was determined that the reasons why the women did not want to benefit from donor milk banks were the risk of disease transmission to the baby and the possibility of their child marrying his or her milk sibling in the future. Conclusion: It appears that Turkish women lack information about donor milk banking. We recommend public awareness activities to be organized concerning donor milk banking.

Donor Breast Milk Banking: Knowledge and Attitudes of Iranian Mothers

“…The majority of people are Shia in Iran, and Shia jurists allow human milk donation; nevertheless, religious concerns seem to be one of the obstacles to donating and accepting donated milk. In some Islamic countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, and Turkey, which are mostly Sunni, the establishment of human milk banks is prohibited due to religious beliefs (Kaur et al, 2019;Özdemir et al, 2021;Yılmaz et al, 2018) In this study, 75.5% of the participants needed more information about human milk banks and milk donation. Similarly, 2021) study, 57.1% of the participants wanted to improve their knowledge of human milk banks, and all the participants pointed out that not enough knowledge and information is available regarding human milk banks in Poland.…”

“…Tu et al (2022) reported that 55% of the participants preferred not to use donated human milk primarily due to the inaccurate screening of the donors. In addition, Özdemir et al (2021) and Magowan et al (2020), found that the risk of disease transmission was among the reasons for not using donated human milk. Another recent study reported that the reason why Sunni Muslims refused to receive donated human milk were incompatibility with religious beliefs, concerns about the safety of donated milk, and not accepting the idea of human milk banking (Gürol et al, 2014), which is consistent with the findings of the present study.…”

“…The majority of people are Shia in Iran, and Shia jurists allow human milk donation; nevertheless, religious concerns seem to be one of the obstacles to donating and accepting donated milk. In some Islamic countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Kuwait, and Turkey, which are mostly Sunni, the establishment of human milk banks is prohibited due to religious beliefs (Kaur et al, 2019; Özdemir et al, 2021; Yılmaz et al, 2018)…”

“…The socio-demographic information questionnaire consisted of 29 items (see Table 1). The research team developed the questionnaires regarding knowledge and attitude based on a review of the literature (Bertino et al, 2009; Chagwena et al, 2020; Daud et al, 2020; Haiden & Ziegler, 2016; Özdemir et al, 2021). To assess knowledge regarding donated milk, 22 items were designed with Yes/No/No Idea response options.…”

“…However, HMB is prohibited or not welcomed in several countries due to cultural and religious beliefs. Religious concerns are considered a major factor for not accepting donated milk in Islamic countries (Ozdemir et al, 2015; Özdemir et al, 2021); however, human milk donation is allowed in Islam and is even considered a virtue. Yet, according to Islam Sharia, sucking milk from the breast of other mothers or accepting donated breast milk leads to kinship between the donor women and recipient infants ((Ergin & Uzun, 2018; Norsyamlina et al, 2021).…”