SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - University of Utah Health Care officially opened the first Mother's Milk donation site in the state Wednesday. Breast feeding moms who have milk to spare can now deliver it frozen to the facility, and help babies who need it most.
Amanda Esko is one of the first donors at the Utah mother's milk donation site. She believes breast feeding has given her daughter Pamela Grace a good start. She says there is nothing unusual about sharing that opportunity with other infants. "I'm a mammal; she's a mammal, and becoming a mother has never made me feel more mammalian, so this is the most normal thing I can give to my baby and someone else's baby."
The milk at the Redwood Health Center comes from mothers who are screened for infectious diseases, are non-smokers, and in good health. It will be shipped to Denver for processing.
Christy Porucznik, PhD is the co-director of the facility."The donated milk is pasteurized. It is also pooled so that milk from several mothers might be put together in one pasteurization batch before it is packaged and then sent to babies in hospitals."
The Mother's Milk Bank often provides the first nutrition of premature infants. Porucznik says "The babies who receive banked milk are primarily hospitalized babies it's given by prescription it's a bridge solution until their own mother's milk is available to them." And it's a better solution than any other. "It is easily digested and can really help support the immune systems of medically fragile babies."
She says the mothers who are donating are like Amanda, they have more than they need and just want to help those in need. "This might be something that she could take on as a community service to say, you know what, I can express extra milk and use it to help tiny babies."
To find out more, visit
www.milkbankcolorado.org or
www.milkdonation@utah.eduor call (877) 458-5503
