Big Deficit at Breast Milk Bank

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PUERTO VALLARTA, JALISCO.- The Breast Milk opened four months ago, but it hardly has enough milk to feed one third of hospitalized infants in Mother and Child Hospital, in need to be fed. Up to this moment, it has only has15 donors.

The Bank, located in Guadalajara’s Mother and Child "Esperanza López Mateos" Hospital, attends premature and underweight babies. The 15 volunteers donate a portion of their milk, as many times as they wish, or whenever they decide to do so. To be a donor, both, mother and their babies, have to be in good health and at home.

There is also another group of 50 women, who are also donors, but they their babies are hospitalized and whatever milk they generate is mostly for their own babies. They can only donate if and when they have a surplus.

Despite these contributions, there is a deficit of breast milk for 70% of hospitalized infants. The bank gets just enough milk to feed 30 % of the babies; the other 70 % is fed with formula, in spite of their vulnerable conditions.

"The 30% of the premature and underweight babies that are fed with donated milk are babies that have been in the hospital for a long period of time. It is expected that by feeding them with nutritious breast milk, their stayed at the hospital could be reduced. “It is necessary to promote and to create a culture of breast milk donation", commented Jorge Castro Albarrán, Manager of the milk bank. Adding that, sometimes mothers just throw their milk away, when they could very well donate it. "We intend to reach all these mothers so that with their help we fulfill our goal of feeding 100% of the babies who are hospitalized."

According to Castro Albarran, a healthy nursing mother usually generates more milk than what her baby needs. He also wants everyone to know that the milk that is donated is analyzed to determine if it is feasible to be administered to a newborn, and that it is pasteurized.

[readon1 url="index.php?option=com_sobipro&pid=1&sid=703:mar&Itemid=212"]Source:www.VallartaToday.com-by MAR Translation Services[/readon1]

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