Smallest Babies to Benefit From New Milk Donation Site

The Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Utah Valley Hospital is now an official Mother’s Milk Bank collection site. This brings the county up to four collection sites including the Utah County Health Department, Cottage Natural Health Center and Timpanogos Regional Hospital Newborn ICU.

“This program really gives one mother the chance to help many infants,” said Jerold Wilcox, RN, Newborn ICU manager.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies be breast fed exclusively for the first six months. For babies who cannot breast feed, human milk donations are the next best option. Human milk has all the vitamins and minerals a baby requires and it helps with the baby’s digestion. It also provides natural immune protection against diseases.

To get started as a breast milk donor, a mother initially will call the Mountain West Mother’s Milk Bank (303-869-1888) and answer a few questions to see if she is eligible to donate. The Milk Bank then sends the mother a packet to get her blood tested at no cost at Utah Valley’s Outpatient Center (1174 North 300 West, Provo). The hospital then sends the blood samples to Denver for testing. Once those tests are done, the mother will receive a donor number that will be used with all her milk donations.

The milk bank adheres to the following requirements for human milk donors established by Mother’s Milk Bank Medical Advisory Council and the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). Women who want to donate must:

• Have milk in excess of their own babies’ needs
• Be in excellent health without any chronic illness
• Have not received no blood or blood products in the past 12 months
• Have no history of hepatitis (after age 11) or illicit I.V. drug use
• Have no history of intimate contact with anyone at risk for HIV/AIDS
• Be a non-smoker
• Take only certain approved medications or herbs
• Be motivated to carry out meticulous collection and storage
• Complete required blood testing
• Have medical authorization forms signed by her and her baby’s own healthcare provider

“In the more than 100 years that milk banking has existed, there’s never been a recorded medical issue with any baby as a result of milk donations through a HMBANA milk bank,” said Wilcox. “This is a very safe way to help our smallest babies get the best nutrition around.”

So far this year, Utah Valley’s Newborn ICU has used 11,550 ounces of pasteurized human milk (PHM). Having it available is a vital part of providing excellent care to the premature or sick babies on the unit.

“Not all mothers are able to provide breast milk to their new babies, for a variety of reasons. Being able to use donated milk definitely gives these little ones a boost in the nutrition they get in their early weeks of life,” said Wilcox.