HEMA Quebec proposes breast milk bank

HEMA Quebec proposes breast milk bank

With roughly 1,000 babies born prematurely each year, and 15 to 30 per cent of mothers unable to breast feed, HEMA Quebec has proposed a bank for breast milk.

The bank would be regulated, and the milk pasteurized.

At Montreal’s Café Melon and Clementines, a support centre for breastfeeding women, many mothers told Global Montreal they think the breast milk bank is a good idea.

However, most weren’t sure they would donate their breast milk.

Cullen Pilot said, “It’s fantastic if people are [willing to donate] – but I would feel a little uncomfortable to be quite frank.”

“For me personally, I would have to know the person,” mom Nadia Ali chimed in. “I couldn’t do it if I didn’t know the person.”

Their ambivalence is in line with what many Quebecers are thinking.

A recent poll by Angus Reid showed that a majority of people are either opposed to the idea or don’t understand the need.

“It’s not an idea that generates a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for many, regardless of the cost, and another quarter say they are not sure,” said the polling company’s vice-president of public affairs.

But experts say the need is there.

With so many premature births in Quebec, many of the babies can’t tolerate formula, and many of their mothers can’t produce the milk they need.

“If you substitute bank milk for formula. for those very premature infants, you will prevent a significant number of cases of Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC),” said HEMA Quebec’s Marc Germain.

If advocates have their way, this would only be the first step towards a bigger bank that would serve all mothers in need of human milk.

“This will be part of the future. We will be able to have breast milk available for all [mothers],” said Carole Dobrich, nurse at the Jewish General Hospital’s breast-feeding clinic.

Montreal mother Lisette Bettez has had trouble feeding her newborn. To supplement her milk with formula, she would have used a bank.

“I totally would have loved to have access to a milk supply, even if it was somebody else’s, that’s better than having formula,” she said.

In the end experts say it is simply a matter of changing one’s mindset – giving mother’s an extra choice.