Last week, a 34-year-old woman delivered a baby two months before her due date at the civic-run Sion hospital. The premature baby boy weighed just 1.2 kg and was immediately shifted to the neonatal intensive care unit.
The mother, who was under anaesthesia after the caesarean section, could not feed him, but the hospital staff managed to collect a few drops of colostrum (first milk) for the baby. For the next three days, the baby was fed milk from the hospital’s human milk bank.
The first human milk bank in the country, it was started on November 27, 1989. Thirty years later, the milk bank is a zonal centre, which helps in assessing and mentoring upcoming milk banks in the western region.
According to neonatologist Dr. Jayashree Mondkar, who has been associated with the human milk bank since its inception, mother’s milk contains nutrients that are essential for a baby’s survival and growth. It protects babies from infections, common diseases and helps in reducing neonatal mortality.
She said, “Mother’s milk is crucial for the baby. But when it is not available, pasteurised human milk is the next best option.” Dr. Mondkar said the bank collected about 200 to 300 litres of milk annually in the first few years. She said, “Now, we get an average of 800 to 1,200 litres every year.”
Every day, the milk bank collects an average of three to four litres. A woman can express about 50 to 300 ml of milk at a time. According to doctors, the more a mother expresses milk, the more milk is produced. They rubbished the common belief that donating milk reduces the supply for one’s baby.
Dr. Mondkar said the donated milk is pasteurised, tested, stored in freezers and fed to babies in need as per requirement. She said, “We have to prioritise. All babies weighing less than 1,500 grams and in need of breast milk get it from the bank. The next in line are slightly bigger babies and so on.”
The donors are mothers who are admitted, those who are on follow-ups and voluntary donors. In 2018, the hospital had 60 voluntary donors, who expressed the milk at home, stored it as per the guidelines and froze it. The hospital sends a vehicle equipped with an icebox to collect the frozen milk.
‘Need more volume’
Sion hospital sees nearly 10,000 deliveries a year. Of these, nearly 12% to 14% are pre-term babies. There are also babies who are separated from their mothers for various other reasons and cannot be breastfed. “The milk we get now is just about enough for babies in our hospital. But there are so many babies in need at the other peripheral hospitals,” said Dr. Mondkar, who believes that more awareness is required to add more donors to the supply chain.
Dr. Swati Manerkar, who heads the neonatology department at the hospital, said awareness of the importance of breastfeeding is still lacking. She said, “We see so many mothers who still believe in myths such as babies should not be fed breast milk for the first two days.”
With handholding from Sion hospital, the civic-run KEM and Nair hospitals have also started their own milk banks. However, a recent study, Landscape analysis of human milk banks in India, has concluded that there are gaps in the system. The gaps include suboptimal financial support from the government, shortage of key human resources, processes and data, and demand-supply mismatch.
“If the volume of milk increases, banks can supply to babies in multiple hospitals,” said Dr. Mondkar.
Frequently asked questions
Why donate breast milk?
Mother’s milk provides nutrition, helps babies grow and protects them from infection and diseases
Breast milk is even more important for sick babies and those born prematurely. It gives them a better chance of survival
A large number of vulnerable babies are not able to access mothers' own milk for short or long term due to unavoidable reasons like mother’s sickness, death, and delay in milk production. In such cases, donor human milk from a milk bank can be life saving
Who can donate?
Any lactating woman voluntarily willing to donate her surplus expressed breast milk can be a part of the initiative
To donate, the mother must be in good health
The process
Donor mother registration and screening
Milk expression of the donor mother
Pasteurisation and testing
Storage in freezer
Prescription for babies
Milk fed to the babies in need
How does donating help mother and baby?
Donating milk helps prevent breast engorgement
Since engorgement makes the breasts firm and swollen, it makes it difficult for the baby to breastfeed
Engorgement happens when a mother produces more milk than her baby drinks
In such cases, donating excess milk not only gives relief from pain but also helps save lives of many needy babies in the hospital
(Source: Comprehensive Lactation Management Centre, Sion Hospital)
