New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
1 CT hospital opens donor milk program to all new moms
DANBURY—A newly introduced program at Danbury Hospital gives mothers who have just given birth the option to use donor breast milk for their newborns.
Donor milk has been available for babies in the hospital’s newborn intensive care unit for seven years, but the new program provides the service to any mother who may be unable to breastfeed after giving birth.
“While a mother’s breast milk is what’s best for her baby, sometimes she cannot nurse because of a medical condition, or her milk hasn’t come in and the baby’s weight may be a concern,” Alexis Curtis, director of Maternal Child Health at Danbury Hospital, said in a statement when the program was announced. “Donor milk can help bridge that short gap until she’s able to nurse or pump.”
The program was initially intended to begin on July 6 but was implemented a day early when a patient needed a milk donation on the 5th.
“A lot of NICU’s across the nation use donor milk, but this is a bridge now that goes into the well-newborn nursery that is a very rare opportunity for our hospital to be able to do,” Curtis said.
Since its implementation, 12 mothers have used the program, which aligns with the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization’s recommendations that all mothers feed their babies solely with breast milk.
“Breast milk is liquid gold. It has unique and remarkable nutrients that support the infant’s and child’s developing immune system,” said Kathleen Moonan, a certified lactation consultant and the hospital’s Center for Breastfeeding coordinator, in a press release. “Donor milk can be especially important for babies in our nursery who are jaundiced, have low blood sugars or low birth weight.”
“Colostrum (the first milk produced when starting breast feeding) is like giving a baby its very first immunization,” Moonan said. “Every bacterial or viral infection that mom has had in her lifetime, she is going to be protecting her baby against, but sometimes they need a supplement, so we provide the donor milk.”
The program provides an alternative to baby formula, receiving the milk donations from the Mother’s Milk Bank Northeast. Donors are screened at the bank where the milk is also pasteurized, and lab tested prior to distribution.
At Danbury Hospital the milk is stored in a special freezer and refrigerator, available for patients in need.
“We had staff teaching days where we do a whole presentation on the donor milk and the process,” Moonan said. “Receiving the milk, logging the milk, preparing it for the baby and all the documentation. But then we also have community education.”
The community education includes making pregnant mothers aware of the program offered and providing pre-natal breastfeeding education.
The hospital also provides lactation consultants to help mothers learn to produce their own milk, while receiving donations.
“This is a bridge program,” Moonan said. “While the baby is getting donor milk, the mother will be given assistance and practice breastfeeding, do hand expression and pump.”
Danbury Hospital also provides breast milk “to-go” for mothers who are having difficulty producing milk.
“Another piece of our program we initiated is what we call the to-go program,” Moonan said. “I only have moms for a couple of days, and it takes three to five days for the milk to come in. So here they have been doing great in the hospital working on getting their milk supply in while the baby has been getting donor milk, and now it is time to go home. So now we can provide them with a small amount of frozen donor milk to help them over that bridge until their milk supply comes in.”
August is designated World Breast Feeding Month, and with the program in full swing, Danbury Hospital is providing a rare service to mothers in the community.
“It really is a case-by-case basis. I am a happily surprised that we are not using tons of donor milk because most of our moms are very successful with breast feeding,” Moonan said. “Here at Danbury Hospital, they get a lot of one-on-one attention. Between the lactation consultants and the nurses, we really do our best to help them.”