CHENNAI: About a year ago Baby Shree Karan, a young mother, saw a post on Facebook asking for a donation of breast milk for a sick premature baby at a private hospital. Moved, she donated 20 ml of milk. She was delighted when the hospital later called and told her the baby was doing much better. The experience gave the lactation counsellor an idea.
Six months ago, she and her friends Koushalya Jagadeesh and Ramyaa Sankaranarayanan started milk donation camps every Sunday at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Institute of Child Health (ICH) in Egmore. All three are lactating mothers, and donors.
“We have a Facebook page called Mommy Talks, in which 2,000 mothers from across Tamil Nadu are members. We had created this page to give parenting support. After seeing the need for breast milk for babies at ICH we started to hold milk donation camps. We have them on Sundays usually as many donors are working women. If 10 moms come, we could collect one litre of milk,” she said.
Despite their efforts, the hospital still faces a shortage. “On an average there is need for 1,500 to 1,800 ml per day. But on an average we collect only 1,200 per day, despite mothers coming forward to donate generously,” said Dr C N Kamalarathnam, Head of Neonatology Department, ICH.
However, there is a selection criteria. “We prefer mothers who have given birth three to six months before donating as they would have been screened for all infectious diseases, including HIV, before delivery. If it has been over six months, we screen the donors,” Dr Kamalarathnam said. To encourage donations, the group also facilitates home collection of milk.
‘Awareness needed on breast milk donation’
M Ashok Kumar, a college student, is one of the volunteers who helps the group by collecting the milk from donors’ homes and delivering it to hospitals. Ashok said that he helped out whenever a request was made. “When I cannot go, I share it with my friends on social media for my friends and whoever is free will volunteer to deliver it. There is not much awareness about breast milk donation. More awareness should be created,” he said.
Nisha Rajagopalan is one such donor who benefited from the home collection on Saturday. “I read about the breast milk donation drive. I wanted to donate my excess feed to the babies in need so I consulted my paediatrician. The doctor directed me to government hospitals. Since, I have a three-month-old baby and cannot travel to the hospitals to donate I asked for a volunteer to help with the delivery,” she said.
The babies that benefit
Newborns at the NICU, whose mothers are being treated at a different hospital, babies whose mothers had lactation failure, premature babies or abandoned babies all require the breast milk.
What is the shelf life?
Shelf life of breast milk at room temperature is six hours. It can last up to 24 hours if refrigerated. If pasteurised and stored at -20 degree at milk banks, milk can last 3-6 months