Breast milk bank in talks for Saskatchewan

REGINA – Sharing human milk has been growing in popularity in Canada and now plans are beginning to take shape for Saskatchewan to open its first milk bank.

Since last April, about 50 babies at the neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) at Regina’s General Hospital have received donor breast milk shipped in from the Calgary Mothers’ Milk Bank.

“In those circumstances where the moms’ milk can’t be used, then we can buy milk that we can give to the babies and we know that it’s better for them, nutritionally,” said Tom Sorensen, manager of the NICU.

However for the first time in Saskatchewan, the General Hospital is accepting donated breast milk to help the bank in Alberta, which struggles to keep up with donations.

“We’ve already got two donors and something like 19 litres of milk delivered (since September 26), so some fairly impressive pumping by these moms,” said Sorenson.

The milk is collected, frozen, and shipped across the provincial border to be processed and pasteurized. The Pasqua South Medical Centre also plans to begin accepting donations to ship to Calgary.

However, the ultimate goal is to one day open a bank in Saskatchewan and a committee has been researching the process.

“I think it’s something that there’s a passion for right now. It’s just a matter of trying to figure out the logistics of how do we pay for it, where do we put it, how do we staff it and make it work for us. But I do believe we’ll end up with one at some point here,” said Sorenson.

Local lactation consultant Kim Smith said she had no reservations about donating her own breast milk to a close friend who needed it when she had the chance.

“No question. I had a ton of milk of my own, I’m on the opposite spectrum where I make enough and I could maintain additional milk for her and have it not impact the supply for my own son,” said Smith.

The Facebook group “Human Milk for Human Babies” is active in Saskatchewan. Moms looking for and offering up breast milk are taking the practice into their own hands.

“That practice itself is OK enough but we don’t necessarily get all the screening or the pasteurization with that, so there are some bigger risks there,” said Smith. “If we can prove that we’ve got a good donor population in this province and we’re using donor milk for our babies, then it will only make sense to have our own and not out-source so much of the work.”