Breast Milk Donation, A Cause to Support Newborn and Infant Lives

A 2016 UNICEF - WHO report on Nurturing the Health and Wealth of Nations: The Investment Case for Breastfeeding showed that India accounts for more than 236,000 child deaths every year due to inadequate breastfeeding. India has one of the largest numbers of low birth weight babies in the world, with significant mortality and morbidity rates. And to impede this situation Breast milk donation came as support. 

Though it is uncommon in India, Breast milk donation is a need of the infants with low birth weight or premature newborn in the country. It can help mothers who can’t lactate or produce enough breastmilk for their child.  

Today, there are 60-plus human milk banks in India, in both public and private hospitals. This number has risen from 14 in 2014, to 30 in 2016. One of these milk banks is Fortis La Femme, Delhi’s specialized hospital for women & newborns in collaboration with the Breast Milk Foundation (BMF), a non-profit organization. They established the first Pasteurized Human Milk Bank, ‘Amaara’ in Delhi-NCR three years back in October 2016. The key objective was the promise and hope to save newborns, babies with safe, hygienic breast milk and those mothers who are unable to breastfeed. In these three years, the Amaara Milk Bank has been able to help 716 babies during their NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) stay, create a strong volunteer base of 190 donors, and pasteurize 1155 litres of milk. 

According to Dr Raghuram Mallaiah, Director & HOD, Neonatology at Fortis La Femme said, “Breast milk is the best nutritional food source for premature and low birth weight infants and should be available to babies deprived of their mother’s milk. WHO and UNICEF strongly recommend that to reduce infant mortality, breast milk from own mother or a healthy donor mother is the best possible way. In certain medical situations, mothers are unable to breastfeed their newborns or unable to produce sufficient milk for their babies. In all the cases, pasteurized donor milk is the best and essential recommendation.” 

Fortis La Femme Amaara Milk Bank has a total of 190 volunteer mothers who have donated their milk and have supported this unique initiative. The process to apply as a donor is very simple - register, get a physical check-up and a general background check. The next steps for the selected mothers are to express the milk and store it in their home refrigerators, to be collected by the milk bank staff. 

Further, the collected milk is coming for the pasteurization at 64.5-degree Celsius for 30 minutes. This process is to avoid contamination and kill the bacteria, antibodies produced by donor mother. After pasteurization, the milk is stored in the refrigerator at 4-degree Celsius to keep the fat intact in it. A sample from the milk is sent to the lab for nutrition check thereafter the milk bottles are labelled and stored in the freezer. The whole process takes 2 hours 30 minutes and the milk can be stored up to 6 months while keeping its nutrition intact. 

Talking about the expenses, Dr Mallaiah said, “Setting up this kind of laboratory and running the process of pasteurization is an expensive affair but with the help of some financial support and donations, we are able to serve this noble cause.” 

Amaara Milk Bank is a stop-gap arrangement for mothers and needed infants. They are providing the pasteurized milk not only in their hospital but to various hospitals in Delhi-NCR, supporting the babies in the NICU and the one who are critically in need. 

Dr Anita Sharma, Lactation Consultant, Fortis LaFemme said, “Mother’s milk is a baby’s birthright. The content and nutrients of mother’s milk can’t be replaced by any formula milk in the world. Since we will be observing Breastfeeding Week from 1-7 July 2019, this gives an ideal opportunity for us to bust all myths related to breastfeeding. In cases where mothers aren’t able to breastfeed their newborns due to various reasons, milk banks such as Amaara is a boon for them.” 

One of the donors, Disha at Amaara Milk Bank shared her experience as a breastmilk donor. She said, “Currently, my baby is 20 months old healthy child. When she was 6 months old, I was storing a lot of breastmilk even after feeding my child. I shared this issue with the doctor, and they suggested me to donate it for a noble cause. Though the elders back at home weren’t supportive about it, my husband was. He encouraged me to be a part of it. Donation gave me a sense of satisfaction that the milk is not getting waste and an infant in need is getting nutrition for proper growth.” 

Ms Vritti Lumba, Facility Director, Fortis LaFemme added, “We are providing pasteurized milk to 38 hospitals around Delhi/NCR and helping newborns get access to safe, hygienic breast milk. Although globally human milk banking is common practice, it is a fairly a nascent concept in India and is gradually picking up. We need to come together to fight infant mortality with more pasteurized milk banks.” 

Fortis La Femme along with the Breast Milk Foundation is planning to set up breastfeeding areas in corporate offices as it is a legal right for every working mother in the country.