Reina Sofía Breast Milk Bank offers natural food to more than 100 newborns

The Breast Milk Bank of the Reina Sofía University Hospital turns two years old this week, time in which, according to the head of the Neonatology Unit and Coordinator of the Milk Bank, María José Párraga, “a total of 115 premature newborns they have been able to feed on donated milk (486 liters) by mothers who have wanted to collaborate in this sanitary device that offers all the appropriate safety guarantees “.

As indicated by the Junta de Andalucía in a note, in the bank milk is collected, processed, stored and dispensed with all health guarantees to patients who need it, which are usually especially those weighing less than 1,500 grams or with a gestational age less than 32 weeks of gestation.

As explained by the Bank’s Head of Conservation and Processing, Katherine Flores, “donated milk undergoes a pasteurization process that eliminates the possibility of transmission of pathogenic microorganisms. Microbiological controls are also carried out both before and after pasteurization “.

To all these controls from the point of view of safety are added the analyzes to determine the nutritional value of the food, “thus, we analyze the proteins, which will allow us to allocate those batches with higher protein content to the most vulnerable premature infants, such as children who weigh less than a thousand grams or are under 28 weeks of gestational age. This is extremely important because we are able to offer a personalized diet and, therefore, more adapted to the needs of each child “.

Dr. Párraga has pointed out the importance of the existence of this device for the correct development of minors, since “thanks to donated breast milk, donors contribute to protecting children admitted to the Neonatology Unit from the appearance of diseases serious, sometimes life-threatening conditions such as necrotizing enterocolitis, an extremely serious disease that occurs more frequently in premature babies. “

“The donors perform a key function and from the Reina Sofía Hospital we want to thank them for their generosity and their ability to adapt in recent months,” said Párraga.

Despite the pandemic situation, Banco de Leche has not stopped its activity. In this sense, Dr. Párraga explained that, “evidently, there have been changes in the dynamics of operation, in order to adapt to the recommendations of scientific societies”.

In this regard, he pointed out that “even during the first wave we suspended the interviews of new donors to avoid displacement and, therefore, new donors were restricted to mothers of newborns admitted to the Neonatology Unit who wanted to continuously donate their surplus or mothers who, upon discharge of their child, wanted to donate part of the milk they had preserved “.

Despite these limitations, in recent months the incorporation of new donors has progressively recovered, managing to add during the second half of 2020 a total of 325 liters of milk that have allowed 61 newborns to be fed. Mostly premature.

“This is a very positive figure because it represents six times more than the balance of liters registered in the second half of 2019,” said Dr. Flores. This increase in volume “is motivated by the increase in the average duration of donation time per mother, which has gone from 1.31 liters of milk per donor in 2019 to 11.22 during the past year, a figure that, in addition , double the national average rate of 2019 “.

REQUIREMENTS TO BE A DONOR

In principle, any healthy woman, with healthy lifestyles, whose baby is breastfeeding satisfactorily and who has more milk than her child consumes, can be a milk donor.

To accept a donor, a health and lifestyle interview is carried out, they are instructed in the techniques of extraction and conservation of milk at home and, also, a blood extraction and analysis is carried out to rule out infectious diseases potentially transmissible through milk.

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