Insights in Policy

Background Breast milk has significant benefits to preterm infants, which include reducing the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).1 However, many hospitalized preterm infants do not exclu-sively receive mother’s own milk, so milk from another mother may be sought. Obtaining breast milk via an Internet site or other social connections is discouraged by the US Food and Drug Administration due to safety concerns of receiving unpasteurized milk from women who may not have been care-fully screened for health issues.2 These safety concerns appear well-founded, as Keim and colleagues found that three-quar-ters of human milk samples obtained through Internet sources had high microbial levels or contamination with pathogens.3 Therefore, receiving breast milk from a milk bank is rec-ommended on account of the thorough screening of donors