Health Tourism News

Importance of breastfeeding for a new born has been stressed time and again.  Medical research shows that mother’s milk satisfies the nutritional needs of a newborn.  A mother’s milk contains immunological agents that help the newborn fight bacteria, viruses and other infections.  Breastfeeding plays a vital role in the development of the baby.  However not every child gets to breastfeed owing to certain medical or physical reasons.  But there is now an advanced form of wet nursing to help hapless newborns.

For about 35-35% newborns, breastfeeding is impossible due to several medical and physical reasons.   Under such circumstances, babies require milk from other sources, but not from other species like cow, buffalo or goat.  There is no substitute for mother’s milk for a newborn and infant.  This medical predicament resulted in the setting up of “Milk Banks”. 

At a human milk bank, a lactating woman’s breast milk is collected, pasteurized, checked for any microbes of diseases and then stored in a freezer at -20 degrees centigrade. A strict procedure is followed in collecting and disseminating the milk.  The donor mother has to be healthy and not under any medication except calcium and iron tablets.
 
The milk is expressed using electrical pumps and once collected, it is pasteurized at 62.5% centigrade for 30 minutes.  It is never boiled.  Once pasteurized the milk is rapidly cooled and poured into an autoclave stainless steel container and then preserved at -20 degrees centigrade.  From each container, 2cc of sample milk is sent for culture and microbiological testing for HIV, history of jaundice, venereal disease and so on.   Based on the results, disease-free stock is stored and used when required within the subsequent six months.
 
Sometimes, depending on the demand, three types of breast milk are collected from a newly lactating mother, during the course of her post-partum stay in hospital.  During the first few days of delivery, colustrum is expressed and stored separately through the specified procedure.  This is given to babies suffering from diarrhea, malnutrition and burn injuries.  Breast milk expressed over the next 5-10 days, referred to as “transitional milk”, is also stored separately.  The milk expressed and stored thereafter is called “mature milk” and this comparatively contains lower protein levels.
 
Milk Banks have been a boon to those thousands of new borns and infants who were deprived of mother’s milk due to certain circumstances.  As long as there are good, willing donor mothers, doctors and hospitals, even the private concerns, should make an effort to ensure that no newborn is deprived of mother’s milk.