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They say it takes a village to raise a baby, so do you think your “village people” should be involved in feeding your newborn baby? If you’re not able to breastfeed, and or your baby has a medical condition that requires human milk (including prematurity, failure to thrive, an intolerance to formula, or allergies).
On Easter Sunday episode of Newsline, an issue that was discussed was the need to introduce a Breast Milk Bank in Nigeria that would cater the needs of babies and help to reduce Infant and child mortality. Some individuals were interviewed and they were in support of the project but we all know how spiritual and cultural Nigerians are. I don’t want to say any more, I just want to know what you think.
All potential milk donors are thoroughly screened for infections such as HIV, hepatitis B, and syphilis. They also can’t belong to certain high-risk groups; for example, women cannot donate milk if they’ve received blood transfusions or tissue or organ transplants in the past 12 months, or who were born in parts of the world where HIV rates are particularly high. Donors can’t drink more than two ounces of alcohol per day or smoke. How strict are the guidelines? Even vegans who don’t supplement their diet with vitamin B12 can be ruled out
For collection and storage: Milk banks give a donor specific instructions on hygienic ways to express her milk, as well as sterile containers in which to store it (and ship it if the donor is out-of-state). Once the breast milk arrives at the bank, it’s pasteurized to kill bacteria and viruses, tested for bacterial growth, and kept frozen until it’s needed. The pasteurization process does lower the quality of some heat-sensitive compounds in the milk — but the breast milk still contains many antibodies that aren’t in formula.
So now, what do you think?
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