Nonprofit Human Milk Banking in the United States (2013/045)

Background: Breastfeeding is considered as the best practice which results in optimum growth and development of infants. According to WHO and UNICEF, donor’s human milk is considered as the best alternative in situations where the mother is not able to provide adequate breast milk due to unavoidable circumstances. Objective: The objective of the study is to assess the knowledge level of paediatric staff nurses regarding Human Milk banking and to find out the association of knowledge level with their demographic variables Materials & Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in a selected hospital of Idukki district in Kerala. The data were collected from 45 Paediatric staff nurses regarding human milk banking by convenience sampling method with the use of a structured questionnaire. Results: The data results revealed that 50% of samples belonged to the age group 19 to 27 and 28 to 36 years; the majority of the samples (72%) were Christians; half of the samples (58%) were graduates; and majority of them (62%) were housewives. Concerning the level of knowledge, 15.5% of them had poor, 69% had average and 15.5% had a good level of knowledge regarding essential newborn care.

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Human Milk, Breastfeeding, and Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus in the United States

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.96.5.977 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 96 (5) ◽

pp. 977-979 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Human Milk ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Hiv Transmission ◽

The United States ◽

Epidemiologic Studies ◽

Care Providers ◽

Actual Risk ◽

Immunodeficiency Virus ◽

Hiv Serostatus

When making recommendations concerning feeding options for infants, health care providers in the United States must balance the potential for transmission of HIV through human milk with the known benefits of breastfeeding. Additional epidemiologic studies are needed to assess accurately the actual risk of HIV transmission to infants from human milk in the United States. However, because HIV transmission via human milk is possible, knowledge of the HIV serostatus of pregnant women is important to determine whether breastfeeding is appropriate.

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Human Milk Banking

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.65.4.854 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 65 (4) ◽

pp. 854-857

Author(s):

Lewis A. Barness ◽

Peter R. Dallman ◽

Homer Anderson ◽

Platon Jack Collipp ◽

Buford L. Nichols ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Weight Gain ◽

Birth Weight ◽

Low Birth Weight ◽

Human Milk ◽

Newborn Infants ◽

Fresh Milk ◽

Human Milk Banking ◽

Milk Banking ◽

Low Incidence ◽

The Cost

The experience of Finnish workers, as well as that of others, shows that the banking of heattreated and frozen human milk is a practical and safe means of feeding low-birth-weight newborn infants. The continuous and exclusive use of human milk is associated with a low incidence of infection and with a rate of survival which is among the highest reported.4 The rate of growth and weight gain is also considered satisfactory, although there is some controversy about whether weight gain is quite as rapid as in formula-fed infants.28 Long-term studies should be carried out to see if these infants grow and develop as well, or better than, those on formula feedings. It is still uncertain whether banked human milk will prove sufficiently superior to formula with respect to its nutritional and immunologic characteristics to compensate for the difficulties of maintaining bacteriologic control and to warrant the cost of setting up and running a milk bank for premature infants. At this time, the Committee considers it optimal for mothers of low-birth-weight newborn infants to collect their milk for feeding their own infants fresh milk.29 Once home, the mothers can freeze the expressed milk and organize for transportation of samples on a regular basis. However, since this procedure will be impossible or impractical for many infants, bacteriologically safe milk from a donor seems a reasonable alternative for these infants.

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