Parent Stories
Becca Jay, mother of a premature infant and blogger, reflects on her own son's NICU journey as she discusses Prolacta's human milk-based human milk fortifier (HMF) on her Instagram. The following is a repost.
"One of the hardest things about leaving your baby in the hospital is the lack of control you feel over the situation. What I wish I knew in the beginning of our NICU journey is that you can request different medications, nutrition, and even doctors for your baby! And you are your child’s best advocate! When Zane was on week 11 of his NICU stay, he had an extreme adverse reaction to a cow milk-derived HMF.
This is a supplement added to breast milk for small preemies to provide needed calories and protein to help them grow. He was very, very sick and lost nearly one-fifth of his body weight. Unfortunately, his medical team didn’t realize what was happening until I figured out the connection and demanded that they change his HMF. He had to stay in the NICU a week past his due date and is still struggling to regain the growth that he lost.
But we are lucky. Some babies who can’t digest the cow milk in HMFs get necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a leading cause of preemie death.
For all my preemie mamas, I wanted to share a video with you about a company that is changing how we feed preemies! @prolacta_bioscience (this post’s sponsor) offers the only HMF made from 100% human donor milk instead of cow milk.
I wish I knew that I could have requested it for Zane when he was in the NICU. The video made me cry, because it made me remember my experience so vividly, and because the advances we are making to save these fragile babies are so important to me! Let me know what you think and tag a mama who should know about this."
Documenting a Family's NICU Journey and Success with An Exclusive Human Milk Diet