Milk Banks: more local partnerships like this, please!

This is a great way to buy local and support your local milk bank at the same time. These kinds of partnerships build support in the local community, raise awareness, and of course funds. More please!

Support Northwest Mothers Milk Bank with gift of Zenana Spa

Posted: December 12, 2011, 09:34 PM


During the month of December, Zenana Spa and Wellness Center is donating 3 percent of all gift card and boutique sales to Northwest Mothers Milk Bank (NWMMB), and on December 15, is boosting that to 10 percent. NWMMB is a non-profit organization that has received donated office and lab space by Providence Health & Services, but is still working to raise the funds needed to purchase equipment and therefore open.

Call for US moms to donate human milk to South Africa while US babies go short

US moms called on to donate for next shipment to South Africa.... let's see here.... we've got a shortage of donors for non-profit milk banks in the US and yet for-profit Prolacta is teaming up with a non-profit group and calling for more US moms to donate milk to South Africa? How many years has IBMP being doing this and why aren't there self-sustaining milk banks in South Africa? Prolacta benefits from the milk it keeps in exchange for processing the donor milk for IBMP - it turns that milk into a product it sells. Quick International Courier benefits - this is an excellent way for it to showcase its ability to provide cold chain courier services to the health care industry.

International Breast Milk Project donates bottled breast milk


IBMP, Prolacta and Quick Intl. join to help AIDS-stricken babies in South Africa; organization calls on U.S. mothers to donate milk for next shipment

The U.S.-based International Breast Milk Project (IBMP), Prolacta Bioscience, and Quick International Courier cooperated in a joint humanitarian effort that delivered 10,000 oz (2,500 bottles) of donor breast milk to be utilized by premature, sick, and orphaned infants in Cape Town and Durban, South Africa....

Prematurity Clinical Trial: Human Milk Cream as a Caloric Supplement in Pre-Term Infants [Conditions: Prematurity; Interventions: Human Milk Cream]

This Baylor College trial is in collaboration with Prolacta. It will compare outcomes of premature infants fed human milk from a mother or donor which will be tested and if short, brought up to 20 calories per ounce using human cream as an additive, vs the current practice in some NICUs of using human milk fortified with human milk-based fortifier (Prolacta's product) with no specific analysis of each milk feed. It is based on this premise:

"However, studies show that up to 65% of human milk may be less than the expected 20 kcal/oz which can greatly affect an infant's growth."

...

Prematurity Clinical Trial: Human Milk Cream as a Caloric Supplement in Pre-Term Infants [Conditions: Prematurity; Interventions: Human Milk Cream]: Arms, Groups and Cohorts in this Clinical Trial

Experimental:Human Milk Cream Group
For infants randomized to the human milk cream group, the human milk (either mother's own or donor) being provided to the infant will be tested each time a new container is used to prepare feedings. The test will be for the caloric content of the milk using a commercially available device provided for this purpose. If the caloric level falls below 20 kcal/oz for any test, then an appropriate amount of human milk cream will be added to the milk to bring the content as close as possible to 20 kcal/oz. The amount added will be calculated to the nearest mL rounding down for 0.1-0.4mL and up for 0.5-0.9 mL to avoid imprecision due to the measuring device used in the nutrition preparation area.
No Intervention: Control Group
For infants randomized to the Control group, human milk and human milk derived fortifier will be provided according to the institutional standard of care and there will be no use of the milk analysis (mother's own or donor), which is typical for the vast majority of neonatal intensive care units.

UK Charity raises funds for human milk motorcycle couriers

A Chesterfield charity, "Derbyshire Blood Bikes" is raising money to offer a free off-hours service to hospitals by delivering blood, platelets, plasma, and human milk. They'd pick up expressed donor milk from nursing mothers and deliver it to the milk bank at Birmingham. They will also delivery processed milk from the bank to NICU units hosting premature babies as far away as Newcastle.

The Chesterfield Post - Hospital and Medical News from Chesterfield: The charity is hoping to further help the local hospitals by collecting baby milk from nursing mothers and deliver to the milk bank at Birmingham and then deliver at their request to maternity units for premature babies.

This service may mean delivering to Nottingham, Leicester and Sheffield as well as in relay with other blood bike volunteers in the country, but premature babies are sometimes placed where the nearest available incubator is and Derbyshire babies can be transferred as far away as Newcastle.