Posted on Tue, Apr. 20, 2004 


Donated mothers' milk helps sick babies thrive

By Jan Jarvis
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

When William Daley was born prematurely on March 8, he weighed only 2 pounds 6 ounces.

He turned 6 weeks old Monday, and little William is getting bigger by the day, thanks in part to breast milk donated by a stranger because his mother could not produce it.

"We're absolutely thrilled and blessed to have this option for our son," said his mother, Carol Daley of Arlington. "We're very thankful that women are willing to do this."

For sick or premature babies such as William, who was born at 27 weeks, mother's milk can make the difference between thriving and dying.

But when a mother cannot provide that essential nourishment, doctors and families must turn to other lactating women for help. A new milk bank scheduled to open next month in Fort Worth should make the search a little easier.

The milk that women donate to the bank can help sick babies fight infections and avoid a devastating intestinal disease, said Dr. Susan Sward, a Fort Worth neonatalogist.

"It's like gold to our babies," she said.

The Fort Worth Milk Bank -- a consortium involving Cook Children's Medical Center, Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital and Baylor All Saints Medical Center-- will be located in the Child Study Center. The bank, which is in the final stages of becoming a nonprofit organization, has collection sites in Bedford and Plano.

Breast milk is especially important to premature and sick babies because they are at a tenfold greater risk of acquiring intestinal infections if fed formula instead of human milk, according to the Mother's Milk Bank at Austin.

About 25 percent of premature infants fed formula contract necrotizing entercolitis, a disease that attacks the intestinal lining. Of those babies, up to 62 percent die from it.

Babies also need donated human milk when their mothers are unable to provide for them because of illness, chemotherapy or medications, Sward said. With multiple births, a mother may not be able to provide enough volume, she said.

"It's hard to feed one, let alone three sick babies," she said. "But that doesn't mean the babies should be penalized."

Because there's a shortage of donated milk, it's usually only given to sick or premature babies, said Gretchen Flatau executive director of Mother's Milk Bank at Austin.

"The supply of milk in the United States is such that we don't have the luxury of serving healthy babies," she said.

With only six milk banks in the United States and Canada, getting enough donations to meet the need has not been easy. In the past, families in this area turned to milk banks in Denver and Austin.

Last year the Austin milk bank dispensed about 115,000 ounces to 20 hospitals around the country.

"Ideally with a state as big as Texas having two or three milk banks makes sense," she said. "In other parts of the world, such as Brazil, formula is almost nonexistent and there are milk banks in every city."

Donating milk is really easy, but it can make such a difference to the babies who need it, Sward said.

"It's like donating blood without a needle," she said.

Lactating mothers pump their breast milk, then freeze it until it can be dropped off at a collection depot. Women are usually asked to donate at least 100 ounces, but some give as much as 1,000.

Once the milk is delivered to the bank, it is heat-treated to kill any bacteria or viruses. It is then refrozen and stored.

Only after the milk has been cultured and shows no sign of bacteria growth is it shipped frozen to hospitals. The milk can only be dispensed by a physician prescription or hospital purchase.

The milk that babies receive is extremely safe, Flatau said.

"There has never been a documented case of a baby being harmed by donor milk," she said.

To make sure the donor milk is safe, donors are carefully screened for communicable diseases. Donors must also be nonsmokers who are not regularly consuming any medication.

Daley said she's grateful to the women who have donated milk because it's made such a difference to her baby.

"It's so helpful to premature babies to have breast milk," she said. "It's just such a blessing."

How to donate milk

Any healthy woman who is breast feeding an infant and can set aside time to express it can donate milk. Donors are carefully screened and tested before their milk is accepted.

• For information about donating milk, call the neonatalogy office at Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital at (682) 885-4283.
Jan Jarvis, (817) 548-5423 jjarvis@star-telegram.com