MILK BANK TO OPEN
By Ashley Chamberlain
news@seacoastonline.com
January 21, 2008 6:00 AM
PORTSMOUTH — Milk and money are needed for moms and babies in the New England area, as the Mothers' Milk Bank of New England prepares to open this May in the Greater Boston area.
Naomi Bar-Yam, director of MMBNE, said the bank will serve all of New England. Although mothers cannot donate to the bank just yet, MMBNE is fund raising to help cover start-up costs.
The first milk bank in the country opened at the Boston Floating Children's Hospital nearly 100 years ago. After it closed, several other banks opened to replace it, but also closed due to mergings of hospitals. There is currently none in the area.
"The closest milk banks to here are in North Carolina, Ohio and Michigan. We are filling that hole," Bar-Yam said.
Jane Crotteau is a lactation consultant at Exeter Hospital, a board member of MMBNE, and is also on the NH Breastfeeding Task Force. She is urging people to volunteer and donate funds that will go to establishing the bank and processing center.
Crotteau is surprised there is not a milk bank in New England already, especially with all of the neonatal intensive-care units in the area.
"Babies will be healthier if they get this milk, but it's not easy to get. It seems kind of crazy that we don't have (a milk bank) already when we are such a center for health care."
Donating the milk is an unpaid voluntary service, which helps cut down the costs for giving the milk to other babies. There are fees associated with pasteurizing and shipping the milk, but Bar-Yam said some insurance companies and hospitals cover the fees, although sometimes families have to pay out of their own pockets.
Crotteau said the milk banks try to provide funds for families who cannot afford to pay so no one is turned away, a fund-raising effort she calls "milk money."
The MMBNE members hope insurance companies will cover the cost of the milk, because it is a cost savings in terms of health, both short and long term.
"The milk is really not that expensive; it's about $3 or $4 an ounce, which sounds expensive, but if you think about it as medicine or a meal, a little baby would probably drink 4 ounces a day, which is only 16 dollars a day."
Breast milk also helps prevent necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), an inflamation of the intestines that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat.
"That's a disease that almost never ever happens when a baby gets their mother's milk or banked human milk. The need is there. Babies are still getting sick because they are not getting the milk," Crotteau said.
There are several thousand babies a year who are born premature or with congenital problems, or babies who are sick and need milk their mothers cannot provide, according to Bar-Yam. There are also adoptive parents who need to buy the milk.
"There is clearly a need, and I am getting requests for information from doctors and hospitals all the time. We shouldn't have to wait until the babies aren't doing well before we give them human milk. It would be great to get to a point where it's just assumed that babies get human milk."
Mothers who have more milk than they need and want to donate have to pass the health requirements, including a written medical history, notes from the mothers' and babies' doctors, and a blood test to ensure neither are carrying a communicable disease.
Things that could disqualify a mom from being eligible to donate include women who drink more than 2 ounces of alcohol a day regularly and those who use tobacco products. A mom must be willing to donate at least 100 ounces of milk and her baby needs to be less than a year old.
Mothers who choose to donate pump their milk at home and store it in the freezer. When they are ready to give the milk, they put it in a special cooler and ship it frozen overnight to the milk bank so it doesn't spoil. Bar-Yam said at the bank the milk is thawed, tested, pasteurized, refrozen and shipped to the babies who need it, mostly premature and hospitalized.
Crotteau, who donated her own milk about 26 years ago, understands the importance.
"There is a lot of support and energy, and a lot of excitement in the area. It is a good feeling personally to be donating your milk to someone who needs it. I definitely see the need, so I am very excited about this whole thing."
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For more information, contact Naomi Bar-Yam at Naomi@milkbankne.org. Donations can also be mailed to:
Mothers' Milk Bank of New England
P.O. Box 60091
Newtonville, MA 02460