Every baby born long before his time needs breast milk appropriate to his gestational age. For this reason, in the Neonatology Personalized Nutrition Unit of the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid , premature babies who need it receive donated breast milk that corresponds to their gestation period and postnatal age.
It is a pioneering program in Spain that uses breast milk feeding as part of the treatment of premature babies.
A necessary initiative
As explained from the Community of Madrid, it is the first donated and personalized breast milk nutrition unit that works in Spain.
It is characterized by the fact that donated milk is ideal for the baby who needs it, as it is from a woman with characteristics similar to those that a premature baby needs: their gestational age, days of life and their nutritional situation.
In addition, it is subjected to bacteriological and nutritional controls and fortified. It is a personalized medicine that includes nutrition as a therapeutic strategy for premature babies.
This is possible because milk from different donors are not mixed and the whole process follows a strict monitoring that allows knowing all the information of each bottle: mother’s name, date of extraction, type of milk, gestational age and in which freezer (from those counted by the unit) is stored.
In this way, all the batches that the baby needs are always from the same donor and the same type of milk. This allows you to always receive the type of milk and if you are a very active donor you will have enough to cover all the necessary donation.
This could not be done in other milk banks because there the milk that is distributed goes to different hospitals and it is very difficult for a hospital to always receive milk from the same donor.
How does ‘milk a la carte’ work?
To obtain the most appropriate breast milk in each case, each type of milk is analyzed, since the nutritional composition at each gestational age is different. The unit has nine different types of milk and, in addition, donated milk is divided by gestational age groups:
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Less than 28 weeks
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28 to 32 weeks
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32 to 37 weeks
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Above 37 weeks.
One or the other is offered according to the type of recipient, always having as priority the baby under 32 weeks. That is, if the baby is born at 24 weeks, the bank is searched for breast milk less than 28 weeks old and the closest one is offered.
This unit is also integrated into the Neonatology Service of the Hospital Gregorio Marañón, to facilitate contact with donor mothers.
It has collected, in one year of operation, more than 900 liters of donated milk, which have served to feed 230 premature babies.
With these donations, it has been possible to provide their own or donated breast milk to all large premature babies of less than 1,500 grams and less than 32 weeks, born in the Madrid hospital, at least until they reached 34 weeks of age.
Multiple benefits for the premature
Breast milk has shown multiple benefits in the premature baby, since it is a true natural medicine that helps to improve the structure of the heart and reduce the incidence and severity of some typical diseases of prematurity, such as necrotizing enterocolitis (in 80 %), a disease that affects the intestine and colon and may require surgery.
It also decreases the rate of catheter-related bacteremia, as breastfeeding allows the IV used to feed babies to be removed earlier.
Hence the importance of this pioneering unit with personalized breast milk, since this intelligent liquid gold adapts its composition to the needs of the baby, so that the milk of a mother who has given birth prematurely, differs from that of a mother who has done it to term.
It is proven that the type of milk a mother produces changes. During the first five days of breastfeeding, she produces colostrum, then transition, and then mature milk.
And there are several types of breast milk that adapts and changes its composition depending on the needs of the child, as it grows. That is why it is convenient that each baby be fed with the type of milk that corresponds to him at all times.
Without a doubt, this nutrition unit deserves your recognition within the World Breastfeeding Week, which is taking place from August 1 to 7. But without a doubt, this project would not be possible without the altruistic donation of those mothers who, although they are suffering from having their children admitted, are capable of helping other newborns and their families.
Via | Community of Madrid and EFE Salud
Photos | iStock
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