Just received this press release. Congrats to Lois Arnold and all the people
who work at the milk banks!
Cynthia D. Payne
LLL of Berkshire County Mass
<<Demand for Donated Breast Milk Up
.c The Associated Press
By MARTHA MENDOZA
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- On her second day in the world, tiny Emily D'Anne
Shaw blinked slowly at her mother, opened her delicate lips and let a rubber
nipple slide into her mouth.
``That's it, my sweet baby,'' murmured her mother, Sherrell Shaw.
Emily swallowed one sip, and then slowly one more of the gift that came from a
stranger, one of the donors who this year gave 2,100 gallons of their own milk
for babies, children and even some adults in need of the precious fluid.
Mrs. Shaw hadn't been able to produce any milk for her baby, born a few weeks
early. At 5 pounds and 4 ounces, Emily was too fragile to leave the pediatric
intensive care unit but desperately needed the essential nutrients, immunities
and fat found only in breast milk.
So Emily's doctors turned to the ``breast milk angels,'' the unpaid donors who
give milk to six depositories across the country, including the Mothers' Milk
Bank in San Jose. Users pay about $2.50 an ounce for the milk, which requires
a doctor's prescription.
``Every drop that comes out is hard to get, but there is a sense of
preciousness about this,'' said Vera Michalchik, who juggles milk donations
with raising her two children and working on her doctoral dissertation in
education at Stanford University.
``Some days it's tough, I might not have a good flow, but then I think, oh,
another ounce for another baby who can survive another half a day,'' she said.
``I know there's never enough.''
Consumption of the banked milk has skyrocketed by 33 percent, from 1,400
gallons last year.
Among the reasons: The American Academy of Pediatrics urged mothers a year ago
to exclusively feed their babies breast milk for their first six months. Now
adoptive parents, drug users or others who cannot nurse are turning to the
banks for a supply.
Public confidence about donor screening is on the rise, too, as studies show
that bodily fluids can be safely tested, processed and distributed.
Finally, new medical advantages are being discovered for human breast milk. It
helps heal babies with infectious diseases, intractable diarrhea and
pneumonia. Children with severe allergies sometimes can digest nothing else.
Adults recovering from solid organ transplants and suffering from AIDS find it
helps them put on weight. In Mexico, it is poured on burns.
Milk banks can't keep up with the demand.
``We're overwhelmed,'' said Lois Arnold at the Human Milk Banking Association
of North America in Sandwich, Mass. ``There's never enough breast milk, and
there's never enough space, time or people to process and distribute it.''
Refrigerators are packed with bags and bottles at the San Jose bank, where
nurse Pauline Sakamoto was preparing a 300-pound shipment last week. As she
worked, a Federal Express package arrived with more frozen milk.
``Sometimes I wonder if I can keep up, but then I just imagine the babies who
need it,'' she said, pouring the cold, creamy fluids into pasteurizing
beakers.
This batch will be flown by volunteer pilots to Highland and fed to two foster
children: 8-month-old Dori -- who lost 90 percent of her small bowel after
birth and is barely surviving as she waits for a liver and intestinal
transplant -- and 3-year-old Nicky, who failed to thrive before his diet was
switched to breast milk 18 months ago.
These days he is fed almost 2 quarts a day. His chubby cheeks and bright brown
eyes bring smiles from strangers.
There are no federal guidelines for breast milk banks. The six U.S. banks,
along with one in Canada and one in Mexico, regulate themselves through the
Human Milk Banking Association.
Donors are screened and approved by their own doctors, their baby's
pediatricians and the milk bank. They donate their milk at home, freeze it in
sterile containers and ship it in batches to the milk banks. There it is
pasteurized and distributed.
Human milk banks have been around, officially, since the turn of the century.
The first known bank in the United States opened in Boston in 1910. They
dropped out of sight in the 1980s as formula companies began producing milk
substitutes for premature infants and AIDS became a real scare.
Charles Shaw wasn't sure what to think last week when doctors suggested his
new daughter be fed banked milk.
``I was leery about it, honestly,'' he said, keeping his hand on his wife as
she cuddled Emily D'Anne. ``But they guarantee this is the healthiest thing
for her.''
Mrs. Shaw whispered something only her baby could hear and then turned to her
husband.
``She's looking wonderful,'' she said. ``She's wonderful.''
AP-NY-12-23-98 0331EST
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. >>
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