O'Bleness Memorial Hospital began selling donated, pasteurized breast milk this month to encourage the use of human milk over formula for ailing infants.
Patients can choose to buy human milk over formula for babies who are failing to thrive or have life-threatening diseases, said Michele Biddlestone, O'Bleness' lactation consultant. The milk is also available by prescription for babies whose mothers cannot produce enough milk, such as women with postpartum depression.
Before the change, mothers needing human milk had to travel to Columbus, according to an O'Bleness news release.
Before now
we could give sick babies or postpartum babies only formula Biddlestone said. There are risks to using formula and now families have the option of choosing human milk.
Human milk has nutrients and infection-fighting antibodies needed for growth and development of newborns, especially babies fighting diseases, according to the Ohio Health Web site.
O'Bleness sells the milk for $36 per three-ounce bottle, Biddlestone said. The Guild of O'Bleness, which fundraises for the hospital, set up a $250 fund to help families who cannot afford the milk. The guild also provided freezer and storage options for donated milk.
The milk is not for long-term use but until mothers can produce enough to feed their baby, Biddlestone said.
O'Bleness became an official human milk collection site in 2006, according to the news release. Since then the hospital has collected more than 8,552 ounces of human milk for the Mother's Milk Bank of Ohio, a service of Columbus' Grant Medical Center.
The bank pasteurizes milk from 35 different hospitals across Ohio and Wisconsin, said Diane Bates, representative for the bank.
The bank also screens potential donors for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, syphilis and Human T-lymphotropic Virus, which causes leukemia and lymphoma, Bates said.
Pasteurization involves heating the milk at 144 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, cooling it and then refreezing it, Bates said.
The milk costs $4.25 an ounce to pasteurize and is held at the bank until a hospital calls with a request, she said. The bank pasteurized about 14,000 ounces of milk a month in 2009.
(O'Bleness Birth Center) are excited to have the opportunity to provide for families in need
Biddlestone said. We are reinforcing the importance of breast milk and helping moms get over the hump until they are able to supplement their children's feeding needs.
Mothers who produce too much milk can call the hospital at (740) 592-9364 to donate their excess milk
Biddlestone said.,",1,News,Alex Stuckey,31097a.jpg,From left
Michele Biddlestone
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discusses donated milk with Rachel Esselburn. Esselburn has donated more than 1
500 ounces of human milk while breastfeeding Cayde and Leah
her children who are pictured. PROVIDED,",",",On The Web,http://www.obleness.org/givingopportunities/currentprojects.asp
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