Donate breast milk for money. Nurse. Donor milk is a worthy alternative to artificial breast milk substitutes. Safety when choosing a breastfeeding mother and her little feeder

Hello, how is it done!

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the only one in Moscow, but what is there, in all of Russia, a bank of donor milk and get to know its creators. I will now tell you about how it was created, how and where it functions, and who can use the deposits of this bank.

From time immemorial to the present day

The history of milk donation dates back to ancient times. Then, if a woman did not have the opportunity to feed the child on her own, she resorted to the help of a nurse, who could be a relative or just an acquaintance. It is known that this practice existed in ancient Egypt, Greece, the Roman Empire, and after the 11th century, the aristocratic and royal families of Europe used the services of nurses.

The transition from private services to milk collection and processing points was marked at the beginning of the 20th century. The first such institution was a milk bank, opened in Vienna in 1909 at the St. Anne's Hospital.

In Russia, in the 1960s and 70s, "donor points" operated at children's polyclinics to collect excess breast milk from nursing mothers and distribute it to needy babies under the age of one month. Subsequently, these institutions ceased to exist due to difficulties in milk quality control and the development of the infant formula industry.

Bank opening

In November 2014, a donor breast milk bank opened in Russia. The pilot project was created in order to help newborns, children undergoing treatment and rehabilitation in the department for premature and neonatal surgical units of the Scientific Center for Children's Health on Vavilov Street in Moscow.

Irina Anatolyevna Belyaeva (left), Doctor of Medical Sciences, Head of the Department for Premature Babies of the Pediatric Research Institute of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "Scientific Center for Children's Health" and Olga Leonidovna Lukoyanova (right), Candidate of Medical Sciences, began collecting scientific and practical data on the effectiveness and safety of the work of such a structure. Senior Researcher, Department of Healthy and Sick Child Nutrition, FSBSI "Scientific Center for Children's Health", doctor of the highest category. I took the photos from them. I was so carried away by communication, while in my thoughts I was in a hurry to Varyusha, that I didn’t even think to ask to be photographed with me.

In the department

Children in the wards are with their mothers. How else? Mom takes care of the baby, learns to use the device for food. Premature babies often lack a sucking reflex and are fed through a tube that goes into the stomach through the nose.

It happens that the children are alone, while the mother is on treatment. But the recovery of a weak body in premature babies is much faster when the mother is nearby. And especially if the mother has the opportunity to feed her breast milk.

But sometimes breastfeeding is just not possible. The reasons are different, mainly early childbirth, resuscitation, treatment or stress. Then donor breast milk can come to the rescue.

Indications for donor breast milk

Donor milk is prescribed only by a doctor as food and medicine at the same time. Not all children in a row, there are exceptions. A mother has the right to refuse donor milk and feed her baby with a formula for premature babies, but refusals are very rare in this department. At stake is the most valuable - life and health.

Which patients are shown donor milk in cases where maternal milk is not available? First, premature babies. I saw these kids in incubators. There is a tiny one weighing a kilogram and the size of an iPad Mini, or even the size of a palm. He feeds on donor milk while his mother is on treatment herself.

Milk is also indicated for children with metabolic disorders, after operations on the intestines, kidney failure, cardiopathy, immune deficiency and allergies to milk formulas.

When formula-fed, out of a thousand babies born with very low body weight, 21 babies die as a result of the development of necrotizing enterocolitis. If such children are breastfed, the mortality rate from this serious disease is 3-6 per thousand newborns.

How the breast milk bank is tripled

When I began to negotiate the possibility of getting into the breast milk bank, I imagined myself entering a separate building, a large separate building. In fact, the milk bank in this department has an area of ​​twenty meters, divided into three compartments.

Milk is brought to the first compartment of the mother. They can immediately wash their breast pump or take a clean container for collection.

Milk is expressed in such jars. They are reusable and sterilizable.

A bank employee accepts milk for bacteriological testing.

Then sends it for pasteurization. The pasteurization technology is very simple: for half an hour, the milk is heated in a water bath at a temperature of 62.5 degrees. This allows you to secure it, while protein, fat, carbohydrates, oligosaccharides, linoleic and a number of other acids, vitamins A, D, E, B12 are 100% preserved. Milk contains 75% folic acid, 65% vitamin C, up to 70% immunoglobulin A, and 91% of the total antioxidant activity is preserved.

Milk is stored frozen, but it must be cooled before being put into the freezer.

In the freezer, it is stored in bags. They are disposable, sterile and simply compact. Frozen breast milk can be stored for three to six months.

Security issue

As I wrote above, the breast milk bank project is experimental. So far, you can’t just come from the street to donate or receive milk. There is not the slightest doubt about the effectiveness of treatment and nursing of small patients with the help of milk, and the closest attention is paid to the issue of safety.

A contraindication for donation is not only a history of infectious diseases, but also, for example, tattoos, acupuncture or dental intervention in the last six months.

Mass donation

I learned one interesting fact about mass donation in Brazil, where it is very well developed. Initially, they gave money for the delivery of milk. Thus, donation was encouraged. But after some time, the reward system was canceled. The fact is that low-income mothers handed over all their milk, depriving their own children of the most valuable product.

It is too early to think about when milk donation in Russia will become massive, says Olga Leonidovna. The bank is already ready to expand and accept those who want to donate milk. Mothers who are not able to feed on their own are not yet ready to take this very donor milk. And for those who feed themselves and have excess breast milk, I advise you to create your own bank at home. This requires a breast pump, storage tanks and a freezer. Strained, cooled, then frozen. Within six months after the end of breastfeeding, there will still be an opportunity to make, for example, milk porridge.

The traditions of breast milk donation are rooted in the distant past - a child of the first weeks of life could not survive if he received not human milk as food, but animal milk or decoctions of herbs and grains.

Mother's milk is a unique product. It contains all the nutrients necessary for a newborn in an easily digestible form, protects against infections, including necrotizing enterocolitis, because the child receives antibodies and other biologically active substances with milk. Modern breast milk substitutes, despite the efforts of manufacturers, cannot fully reproduce living biological fluid.

So far, 3 official donor milk banks have been opened in Russia - in Moscow (Scientific Center for Children's Health), Ufa (Republican Children's Clinical Hospital) and Chelyabinsk (Regional Perinatal Center). These are domestic banks - milk is donated and received by mothers of children who are being treated in these hospitals.

You can also find a donor on breast milk exchange sites (links below).

The exchange of milk from mother to mother is called informal. It should be exactly an exchange, and not a sale / purchase - for safety.

Why do parents choose to breastfeed?
Because breast milk is the natural food for a human baby.

Who can be a donor?
Any healthy woman who has no contraindications.

What are the contraindications for donation?
- Some diseases (HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, any acute infections, mental disorders).
- Treatment with drugs incompatible with hepatitis B (for example, cytostatics).
- Damage to the skin of the breast and nipples.
- Smoking and other bad habits.

How to check if your potential donor has any contraindications?
- Get to know each other personally, discuss frankly what worries the host family.
- Ask for the results of tests taken during pregnancy, or ask for tests just before the start of the donation - and do not be shy to ask questions, sincerely explaining why you are asking them.

Who is donor milk suitable for?
All children in need of supplementary feeding. But first of all - to premature and weakened babies.

How is the exchange between families?
Parents get to know each other, discuss their concerns (mother's health, milk storage, etc.), and agree on logistics (when and how to transfer milk).

How is donor milk prepared for feeding?
If milk is frozen, it must be thawed beforehand.
To ensure safety, donor milk is pasteurized (disinfected) in a water bath.

What happened to donation in our country before?
In the USSR, breast milk donation was commonplace. Dairy kitchens were involved in the collection, pasteurization and distribution of donor breast milk. With the onset of the HIV epidemic, dairy kitchens were repurposed to serve breast milk substitutes.

Why are people afraid of milk donation?
People are afraid of the selfish interests of donors (which is why many oppose the sale of breast milk).

In fact, milk can simply be given and it will be safer, because most often they give the milk that was prepared for their own child.

Many people are not aware of the safety rules when exchanging breast milk.

Where can I find breast milk donors?
For example, on the website of the Volunteer Movement “Dairy Mom” is an association of people who support the gratuitous exchange of donor breast milk.

"Dairy" brothers and sisters (strangers by blood, but fed by the milk of one mother) in ancient Rus' are a fairly common phenomenon. At the beginning of the last century, young mothers of the nobility did not breastfeed their babies. "It's not a noble thing to breastfeed a child." This was done for them by the nurses. Over time, the attitudes of society and young mothers changed, and women stopped voluntarily giving up breastfeeding. In the 60-70s, the need to resort to the services of a wet nurse was dictated by completely different reasons. At that time in our country there was no such abundance of artificial breast milk substitutes. When the mother did not have milk, the child was given either diluted cow's or goat's milk, or a dry mixture of cow's milk. And if the baby had intolerance to this mixture, the mother had to look for a nurse.

In addition, "milk" kinship is common in the animal kingdom. You can often observe a situation like a dog feeding a kitten, a she-wolf feeding a fox, a pig feeding a puppy, etc. Of course, you shouldn't compare yourself to animals. But that's how nature designed it. And as you know, there is nothing more natural and reasonable than the hints of mother nature.

Breast milk is the ideal food for a newborn. And until a mixture has been invented that completely repeats the composition of breast milk. But what if the mother does not have it or has it, but very little? Is it worth it to transfer the baby to or, maybe, take advantage of the experience of the ancestors and find a nurse for the baby?

Where to look for donor milk?

There are several options for finding donor milk. The first and most reliable is to contact the "breast milk bank". In all countries of the world, "breast milk banks" have been operating for many years.

If there is no breast milk bank in your city, you can find a nurse through an acquaintance. The easiest way is to find a nurse in the maternity hospital for your child. Especially if you gave birth in the district maternity ward: it is likely that the roommates live not far from you. If it was not possible to find a suitable nurse in the maternity hospital, ask friends and acquaintances who have recently had children. Maybe you will find a mommy who has too much milk and has to pump to avoid congestion.

But the newspaper and Internet advertisements for the offer of the services of a wet nurse should be treated with extreme caution. No, we do not undertake to assert that all women who give these ads are without exception sick with hepatitis, alcoholics or drug addicts. Among them there are decent young mothers who, due to financial difficulties, are forced to sell their milk in order to somehow feed themselves and the child. In this case, it will be quite difficult for you to choose exactly what you need from a huge number of offers, deftly filtering out dubious offers. In addition, if a woman is forced to sell breast milk, she is most likely not able to provide herself with good nutrition. Remember, all substances that enter the mother's body, both useful and harmful, pass into breast milk. Therefore, the choice of a nurse should be approached with all responsibility. You must be absolutely sure that the nurse leads a healthy lifestyle, eats properly and does not violate elementary hygiene rules when pumping. But even if you are confident in the integrity of the nurse, do not neglect the sterilization of donor milk.

Formula or donor milk?

Of course, most modern mothers prefer to use ready-made breast milk substitutes. Firstly, it is safer, because the manufacturer is responsible for the quality of their products. And secondly, it's easier: no need to look for a nurse and sterilize donor milk. But there are a number of cases when experts consider donor milk as a worthy alternative to artificial mixtures. Here are some of the more common examples:

In weak, premature babies, the gastrointestinal tract is not yet adapted to the digestion of artificial mixtures. And for this reason, failures and disturbances in the digestive system often occur. In addition, a mother who gave birth to a baby prematurely often has problems with lactation. And the baby still does not have the strength to help his mother "dissolve" the breast. It turns out a kind of vicious circle. The baby needs breast milk - but he cannot help his mother to establish lactation. In this case, doctors in the maternity hospital often supplement the children with donor milk from other women in labor. In addition, it is likely that after a while the mother will have milk, and she herself will be able to breastfeed the baby.

Donor milk is more preferable in cases where the mother is forced to stop feeding abruptly. For example, if she was diagnosed with a serious illness that requires the use of strong antibiotics or hospital treatment (for example, hepatitis B), it is better not to take risks and transfer the baby to artificial or donor feeding. In this case, even with sterilization and compliance with all safety measures, there is a high probability of infection of the child or strong antibiotics entering breast milk.

In case of repeated pregnancy, it is better for the mother to voluntarily refuse breastfeeding. During pregnancy, the hormonal background of the body changes in a woman and, consequently, breast milk changes taste. By the way, it is usually the child who first notices the "interesting position" of the mother, and he himself refuses to breastfeed. But if the baby continues to eat as if nothing had happened, it would be better to interrupt the process, regardless of its age. After all, now you first of all need to think about the unborn baby. He needs much more vitamins and minerals from the mother's body. It is almost impossible to bear and give birth to a healthy child, and at the same time continue to breastfeed. If up to this point the baby was breastfed, then a sharp transition to artificial mixtures can be difficult for his body. And donor milk will make the transition from breast to formula smoother and safer for the baby.

It is impossible to give an unambiguous answer, which is better than an artificial mixture or donor milk. Each case must be considered separately. Therefore, before making a final decision on the use of donor milk, think carefully, consult a pediatrician and weigh the pros and cons. And remember, donor milk is not breastfeeding. And just one of the possible options for artificial feeding. Although donor milk has all the advantages of breast milk, it is still not a full-fledged replacement for a mother.

Donor milk has a long shelf life compared to prepared dry formula. It can be stored for about 8 hours at room temperature, five days in the refrigerator and up to three months in the freezer. At the same time, its quality is preserved.

Unlike artificial substitutes, breast milk, in addition to all the vitamins and nutrients necessary for a newborn, contains antibodies that protect the baby from various diseases and enzymes.

Donor milk is much cheaper than most artificial formulas. And sometimes the nurse is ready to provide it for free. Of course, if you decided to have a child, then most likely you thought about how to feed him. But in a difficult financial situation and the inability to use the services of the "dairy kitchen" (if you and the child are citizens of another state), this fact may be decisive.

Disadvantages of donor feeding

Necessary sterilization somewhat reduces the nutritional value of donor milk.

You cannot constantly control the nutrition of the wet nurse. There is a good chance that her baby tolerates a number of foods from the mother’s diet normally, and your baby may develop an allergy.

There is a risk of contracting viral hepatitis or HIV infection through breast milk.

The child drinks donor milk from a bottle, and not from the mother's breast, as with natural feeding. Therefore, even in the absence of milk (if the mother is healthy), give the baby an empty breast. Thus, you partially fill the baby's need for close communication with his mother.

If you are a nurse

If you have no problems with a lack of milk and theoretically you are able to feed not one, but several heroes at once, there is no need to pour out the expressed milk. Why not give your child a "milk" brother or sister? By the way, according to psychologists, children fed the same milk have much in common, unlike babies fed the same artificial mixtures. Through breast milk, the nurse's fluids are transmitted to the child: joy, sadness or anxiety.

Of course, taking milk to a collection point is a rather tedious task, especially when you have a small child in your arms, and the point is located on the other side of the city. But perhaps someone you know suffers from a lack or complete absence of breast milk. You have a chance to do a good deed for people, so why not use it? In addition, it is not at all difficult for you if you still have to express excess milk.

Most importantly, follow basic hygiene rules. Before each pumping (after feeding your baby), you should wash your hands and chest with baby soap. Use only clean, pre-sterilized bottles (the pumping container is usually prepared by another mother). If you use a breast pump for pumping, then you should also keep it clean and wash the nozzles after each pumping. Store your expressed milk in the refrigerator in a tightly closed bottle to keep the milk from absorbing odors from other foods. But there is no need to sterilize milk. This will still be done by the mother of the second baby and why do you need an extra headache.

Ingoda there are situations when a mother cannot, due to any circumstances, feed the baby with breast milk. Then another mother can come to the rescue, and become a donor for the baby without leaving him hungry.

What is donor breast milk

This is the name of the milk of another mother (nurse) which is of the same type as the mother of the child intended for children under the age of 6 months (up to 2 years, depending on how the mother feeds the baby) as the main food that completely replaces the entire diet of the baby (nutrition , water).
The milk of the donor-nurse is obtained as usual, by natural selection (pumping). WHO (World Health Organization) proved that mother's milk is unique in its composition and has no analogues, and artificial mixtures, as they say, "were not even close." But sometimes unpleasant incidents happen when a mother simply needs donor help. Then she can turn to the nurse for help. This very often happens in maternity hospitals, if, for example, the mother had a very difficult birth or she is infected, but the child is healthy (this is called the "risk factor"), all the necessary documents and certificates are attached to the child that he is completely healthy, then the wet nurse who has excess milk can feed him. It also often happens that the mother loses milk after childbirth due to the transferred birth stress (everyone is individual). As a rule, this is for several days, but if the baby is healthy and there is a donor mother who agreed to feed him, they give her "care".

There are so-called "peering networks" in the world, which are created specifically so that both donor-nurses and those who need them can help each other. These organizations work absolutely free of charge, only on mutual assistance, but there are exceptions that are condemned by many mothers from all over the world. After all, feeding a defenseless baby is worth the money if you have milk to help.

Cases in which there is a need for donor milk

• Due to circumstances, the mother does not have enough breast milk, and they want to supplement the baby with a mixture only after a certain period. It often happens that a mother either does not have enough milk, or she lost it after childbirth due to nervous stress and postpartum shock. This is a purely psycho-emotional state and it is not subject to discussion, since the woman is not to blame that her body reacted this way. Then the parents turn to milk donor mothers and ask them to feed them until the condition of the biological mother returns to normal. Approximately, this can last a month or two (often the bill goes for a week or two at all), for someone else.
• After the birth, the mother has no milk at all, and he was breastfed, but according to the discharge, the parents want only breastfeeding.
• The mother of the child takes heavy antibiotics that cannot be "fed" to the child with milk, even if she has it. Also, if the mother is in a serious condition after childbirth (coma, large blood loss, too low hemoglobin). Then the father or relatives resort to the services of a milk mother.
• If the mother of the child, who feeds, has an urgent need to leave or she is sick and needs to go to the hospital.
• If the adoptive parents took the baby directly from the baby's home and do not want to feed with artificial feeding.

Who can become a breast donor for a child

• Mothers who, while feeding their children, also express milk, as an overabundance makes itself felt.
• Moms who have expressed milk decided to freeze milk "in reserve", but it, after lying no more! three days was useless.
• Mothers who gave birth to a small baby, having a huge supply of milk that he does not have time to eat (it flows or can burn out) and are happy to take someone else's baby to feed (although there are no other people's children).

Safety when choosing a breastfeeding mother and her little feeder

• First, be sure to confirm that you agree to have your child fed by the donor mother. differently and at honey. staff and the donor may have problems.
• Be sure to find out about the health of the donor-breadwinner.
• It is important for the nurse to know if the baby is infected, because during suckling (even if he is toothless), his saliva enters directly into the woman's body through the open nipple. And if the baby has some kind of infection because of the mother and you were not informed about it and did not provide certificates, this is directly a matter of jurisdiction.
• The nursing mother must also make sure that the mother has good reasons for not breastfeeding the baby herself. If there were none and the mother simply does not want to feed her child with milk in abundance, it is better for the wet nurse to help someone who really needs it.

Who may need donor breast milk?

Donor breast milk is prescribed to a newborn, especially to those born prematurely, only on doctor's orders in cases where mother's milk is not available.

Reasons for prescribing donor milk:

• prematurity
• Congenital metabolic disorders
• Nutrition after bowel surgery
• Allergy, milk intolerance
• Chronic renal failure
• Cardiopathies
• immune deficiencies
• Multiple births

Why is donor breast milk so important for a premature baby?

• 1 out of 10 babies is born prematurely. Breast milk is especially important for these newborns because it promotes better nutritional absorption, including in extremely immature infants, helps to significantly reduce the risk of developing serious diseases that are common in premature babies, such as necrotizing enterocolitis, sepsis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, retinopathy, and most the main thing is to ensure further optimal neuropsychic development of these children.
• Less than half of mothers of premature newborns are able to give them their breast milk in the first time after birth. Some mothers of premature or weak babies also have medical restrictions that are incompatible with breastfeeding. When fed with donor breast milk, these babies receive all the benefits of breast milk that are essential for growth and development.

Donor milk safety
The closest attention is paid to the safety of breast milk in the donor breast milk bank of the Scientific Center for Children's Health: donor mothers are carefully selected, examined, and then pasteurization of the received donor milk is carried out according to technology that meets accepted international standards (at a temperature of 62.5? within 30 minutes).

Numerous scientific studies have proven that known pathogenic viruses and bacteria, including cytomegalovirus, mycobacterium tuberculosis, HIV, are completely deactivated with this method of pasteurization, so donor breast milk is safe for children.

In 2014 in Scientific Center for Children's Health on the basis of the department for premature babies, the first breast milk bank in Russia was opened. The initiative is implemented under the auspices of the Union of Pediatricians of Russia and with the support of the Philips Avent brand, an expert in the production of breastfeeding products.

Donor breast milk bank is a special structure created in order to collect, check, process, store and distribute valuable donor breast milk to those newborns who need it for special medical reasons.

The NCCH donor milk bank is non-public, that is, it applies only to patients of the Center. Donors are breastfeeding mothers who are in the clinical divisions of the Center along with their babies.