Mothers encouraged to donate breast milk

Since 2019, the Namibia Breast Milk Bank (NBMB) has provided a safe space for donor mothers to supply breast milk to premature babies or babies under 1.5 kilograms whose mothers died during childbirth, are in the intensive care unit or cannot produce enough milk.

“Some mothers cannot express every three hours as expected, and that is a big challenge," Birgit Mayer, head of NBMB at Mediclinic hospital in Windhoek, said.

In light of this challenge, milk is donated. The donor milk is frozen, and before use, it is thawed and placed into a pasteuriser, bottled, labelled and finally fed to babies in need.



Safe procedure

Mayer urged parents and guardians to ignore misconceptions that donor milk is inferior or unsafe. According to her, it is a safe procedure because all the mothers who donate fill out consent and health questionnaire forms.

Mothers can do it from the comfort of their homes with a breast milk pump, and donate it to Mediclinic, she said.

She further assured that a sample of every batch is thoroughly tested at Pathcare, and donor mothers receive free screenings - including tests for HIV and Hepatitis B - to ensure health and safety. "The milk we cannot use, we won’t take,” she explained.

In September alone, the NBMB collected over 150 bottles of breast milk, which were donated by mothers at both state and private hospitals, Mayer said. “The mothers who produce too much breast milk freeze it at home, and then when they have enough, they call us.”



Challenges

An ongoing challenge since the bank's inception has been a shortage of donors. Mayer explained that a premature baby consumes one bottle of milk per day, but as the baby grows, the demand increases, eventually requiring formula, which is also costly.

Another issue, according to NBMB, is the bank's goal of covering the cost of donor blood tests. “It requires funding, which we currently don’t have,” Mayer said.

She urged those with the means to support the initiative to help it keep running.