Photo by RUDY LIWANAG

Banks are the backbones of modern commerce. They are the guardians of our hard-earned money and the partners in making our dreams come true: owning a home, a car, starting a business. But here in the country, there is a new kind of bank, one that gives a new meaning to the word, liquidity. Stationed at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila, the Milk Bank stores human milk and gives it away to preemies and sick babies, providing them with a bigger fighting chance for survival.

“We get a lot of very premature babies at the hospital. But while we encourage their mothers to come in regularly to give breast milk for their babies in the incubators, the sad fact is a lot of these mothers do not come to visit their babies. There are also special cases wherein the child is too sick to be breastfed or are born with conditions such as cleft palate. This is why we need, on a normal day, 10 liters of milk,” shares Neonatology Fellow Jessamine C. Sareno, who is one of the doctors who oversee the Lactation Unit and Human Milk Bank at PGH.

To fill this huge order, they get donations from organized lactation groups, and moms who simply have milk to spare. The milk is sometimes delivered personally by the moms or picked up by other volunteers. The unit has also started a partnership with a courier service that picks up milk along their routes, effectively making their delivery boys “milkmen.” 

These expressed donations come in bottles and Ziploc bags, are stored in a freezer, and pasteurized to eliminate the possibility of contamination. Then this life-giving liquid is fed to tiny angels in the Neonatology Intensive Care Unit through little see-through drinking cups a bit larger than those ordinarily used for dispensing kiddie medicines.

But why go to all that trouble? Why not substitute formula? According to Dr. Sareno,  the credo of the unit is this: Human milk has no substitute. Breast milk also has immunoprotective properties that fight against life-threatening infections like sepsis, pneumonia, diarrhea, and enterocolitis. It likewise has components, which help the newborn’s intestinal tract to mature, allowing for easy digestion, better absorption, faster growth, and better health. Plus, it also has nutrients in a combination that no artificial product can duplicate.   

Doing it nature’s way

At the Bank, lactation experts advocate expressing by hand instead of using breast pumps. “This is to discourage moms from using the excuse that they were not able to express milk because they don’t have a pump. Studies also show that the use of breast pumps can contaminate the milk because the pump may have parts that are not cleaned very well,” explains Dr. Sareno.

She also explains that they use feeding cups instead of nursing bottles because drinking from the cup simulates the jaw movement of breastfeeding. “Giving the baby a bottle will only cause nipple confusion, and might discourage the baby from wanting to get his milk from his mother.”

Milk for a Cause
        
Even if you do not have breastmilk to spare, people can still help by feeding milk to the babies through cups. “We encourage people to drop by and help us with the cup feeding like if they want to celebrate their birthday in a unique manner. They can come here to help us feed the babies. Sometimes, students also drop by to lend a hand,” she says.

Fourth Year UP Family and Child Development student Riana Marie Feliciano set out to make a difference in the lives of infants by gathering breastmilk donations from a foreign lactation organization. “I sent an email to the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, and they were able to patch me through an organization that donated expressed milk to the bank at PGH,” she recalls.

UNICEF Health and Nutrition Section Chief Dr. Marinus Gotink lauded the efforts made by Feliciano, especially since UNICEF is strongly advocating and promoting breastfeeding as the best means of raising healthy children. As part of their campaign in the Philippines, UNICEF has been working with groups such as the UP Volunteers for Children, of which Feliciano is a member. 

Truly, the sight of these helpless cherubs, some almost small enough to fit in one’s cupped hand, gobbling up the dripping breast milk is both heartrending and immensely satisfying. Any observer or better yet, volunteer feeder would know that by giving them a cup of breastmilk, they are helping them get a fair fighting chance to live and grow up healthy and strong.

Be a milk angel

Give these children a fighting chance. Here are three ways you can help them:

1. Be a financial donor 

You can also donate money to be used for information dissemination, screening of milk donors, maintenance of operations and research.

2. Be a breastmilk donor

Healthy nursing moms can donate milk, at least 100 oz. They must be non-smokers, who do not take medications chronically and have not indulged in alcohol for at least 12 hours before donating

3. Be a volunteer

You can help disseminate information, cup feed the NICU babies, and assist the lactation team in expressing milk from the foster moms.

(Those who are interested can contact the Lactation Unit and Human Milk Bank, 4th Flr. LCB Philippine General Hospital, 521-8450 local 3418/3409)