A 1997 article in the medical journal Pediatrics documented breast milk’s ability to decrease the incidence of diarrhea, infections, sudden infant death syndrome and allergies, as well as possibly raising IQ levels. The 12-city Human Milk Banking Association of North America has seen donations jump 131 % in the past six years. The same standards as blood banks are used said Francis Jones, the group’s board chair and director of the milk bank at the British Columbia Women’s Hospital in Vancouver. Jones said that they make sure that the mothers know and clearly understand who they’re giving their milk to and what we’re doing with the milk. The banks screen donating mothers for HIV, hepatitis and other viral infections and set restrictions on caffeine consumption.

The banks pasteurize the milk and charge a processing fee of about $3.50 an ounce, or $100 a day to supply the typical 6-month-old.The banks distribute the processed milk to hospitals and by prescription to individual mothers who can’t produce enough milk or can’t breast-feed. Prolacta Bioscience, based in Monrovia, Calif., is selling a concentrated form of breast milk aimed at premature babies. Elena Medo, Prolacta’s founder and chief executive aid that medical technology has allowed younger infants to survive outside the womb, the need for immune-boosting, calcium- and fat-rich mother’s milk has grown.