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It's a common occurrence for organizations to ask for blood, plasma, bone marrow, and organ donations to help save lives. Just like those things help critically ill people, donated breastmilk can help save the lives of premature babies.
When a baby is born prematurely, mom's milk typically hasn't come in fully, so it's hard to nurse or pump exclusively. While the baby might be fighting for his or her life, mom is working to get a full milk supply. And even when mom’s milk comes in, breastmilk alone often isn’t enough to provide the amount of nutrients and calories these tiny babies need, especially in the case of extremely premature babies. A fortifier is sometimes needed to provide the extra calories, fat, and nutrients a preemie needs to gain weight. This fortifier is added to mom’s breastmilk or to donor milk (if mom’s milk is unavailable).
Nearly 51,000 extremely low birth weight babies - two pounds, 12 ounces or less - are born every year, and their moms can't produce the milk to fulfill their needs. Add to that the milk trafficking that is happening online - moms selling to and/or buying milk from strangers instead of milk banks - and the nation is in a shortage.
Tyler, who was born two pounds, one ounce, wasn't able to breathe on his own when he was delivered. While sitting in the NICU watching Tyler fight for his life, his parents were told he wouldn't be able to feed right away, and it could be days before he could have any breastmilk. The hospital gave his mom a schedule to adhere to for pumping, and provided containers, labels, and stickers to freeze the milk for later use.
His parents carried the liquid gold to the hospital every day. As he grew, and his feedings increased from a drop to an ounce, it was Mom’s breastmilk he was ingesting. A few days after he was born, his parents were told about a human milk fortifier that would allow him to stay on an all human milk diet. After doing their research and talking with their NICU team, his parents decided Prolact+ H2MF was the right solution for him. When Tyler left the NICU 108 days later, he weighed more than eight pounds. Breastmilk has been shown to reduce the risk of an often fatal condition in preemies called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which occurs when the intestines begin to fail.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastmilk for the first year of a baby’s life. It helps protect all newborns from infection, aids in cognitive development and seems to reduce the chances of obesity, diabetes and hypertension in later years. However, for the smallest, sickest and most fragile babies, your breastmilk donation increases their very chances of survival. Some women are blessed with excess milk. If you’re one of them, you may be the perfect candidate to donate.