Lactation counsellor and a young mother, Baby Shree Karan, saw a post on Facebook asking for a donation of breast milk for a sick premature baby at a private hospital. Moved by the post, she donated 20 ml of milk and was delighted when the hospital called and told her that the baby was doing much better, as reported by The New Indian Express.?
The experience gave her an idea of starting milk donation camps. Six months ago, she and her friends Koushalya Jagadeesh and Ramyaa Sankaranarayanan started milk donation camps every Sunday at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Institute of Child Health (ICH) in Egmore, Tamil Nadu.??
All the three are lactating mothers as well as donors.?
Zee News
¡°We have a Facebook page called Mommy Talks, in which 2,000 mothers from across Tamil Nadu are members. We had created this page to give parenting support. After seeing the need for breast milk for babies at ICH we started to hold milk donation camps. We have them on Sundays usually as many donors are working women. If 10 moms come, we could collect one litre of milk,¡± Shree Karan told The New Indian Express.
¡°On an average there is need for 1,500 to 1,800 ml per day. But on an average we collect only 1,200 per day, despite mothers coming forward to donate generously,¡± Dr C N Kamalarathnam, Head of Neonatology Department, ICH told TNIE. Despite their efforts, the hospital sometimes have shortage of the breast milk.?
There is a selection criteria for the donors too. They prefer mothers who have given birth, three to six months before donating. ¡°We prefer mothers who have given birth to three to six months before donating as they would have been screened for all infectious diseases, including HIV, before delivery. If it has been over six months, we screen the donors,¡± Dr Kamalarathnam said.
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To encourage lactating mothers, the group also facilitates home collection of milk.?
M Ashok Kumar, a college student who is one of the volunteers told TNIE, ¡°When I cannot go, I share it with my friends on social media for my friends and whoever is free will volunteer to deliver it. There is not much awareness about breast milk donation. More awareness should be created.¡±
Nisha Rajagopalan, one such donor told TNIE, ¡°I read about the breast milk donation drive. I wanted to donate my excess feed to the babies in need so I consulted my paediatrician. The doctor directed me to government hospitals. Since, I have a three-month-old baby and cannot travel to the hospitals to donate I asked for a volunteer to help with the delivery.¡±
Representational Image - Unsplash
Breast milk is precious to all infants¡¯ survival and continued health, especially premature and sick babies. Using donor breast milk, does not have all the same benefits of breastfeeding but it helps those who have difficulty in providing breast milk to their babies.?