Human milk needed for premature babies

Last year, the reserve provided milk for 1,295 tiny babies and all but three of them survived.

The milk bank's managing director, Stasha Jordan, said this was a remarkably high survival rate for very premature infants. Around 87% of neonatal deaths occurred during the first seven days of life.

"It is this highest-risk population group that our initiative targets," Jordan said.

"The South African reserve bank of breast milk was the third largest in the world," she said. Mothers around the country who would like to donate breastmilk should contact Netcare hospitals, where milk banks will be organised to mark World Breastfeeding Week starting on Thursday (31 July).

"Mothers who give birth prematurely often cannot produce milk but their babies need it to survive, hence the need for reserve supplies," Jordan said.

South Africa has a high rate of premature births because many HIV-positive women give birth early. Almost 30% of pregnant women are HIV-positive.

Jordan said very small babies in neonatal ICUs are unable to digest formula milk. "The difficulty in processing formula can lead to the death of tissue in the infants' digestive systems. This potentially fatal condition can be averted if the babies are fed breast milk," she said,

The use of milk from the reserve bank in Tembisa Hospital, east of Johannesburg, last year reduced the infant mortality rate of babies under 2kg by 19%.

Before the bank became involved, 46% of all babies born under 2kg died. After milk was provided, the death rate decreased to 23%.

Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge