This week, Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Katherine Chetta about donor milk for premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Dr. Chetta is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and a neonatologist at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Donor breast milk is commonly given to premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit when their own mother's milk is unavailable. Doctor Katherine Chetta is here to talk about the health benefits of donor breast milk, specifically for premature infants. Doctor Chetta is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and a neonatologist at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital. Doctor Chetta, why is breast milk especially important for babies who are born prematurely?
Dr. Chetta: Breast milk is a really important substance for preterm babies. It functions in two main roles, one for growth or nutrients, and two is immunologic or helping baby fight infection.
Conner: And how effective is breast milk at reducing the risk of any serious illness in premature infants?
Dr. Chetta: There's a range of studies, and there are studies that show that donor human milk decreases the risk of a really bad gut disease that preterm infants can have, called necrotizing enterocolitis. There's a couple large trials and then one recently that was completed that shows that babies that get donor milk as opposed to formula do better and have a lower risk of NEC.
Conner: Tell us about the donor breast milk banks or the whole system that exists at the MUSC NICU and elsewhere in the US to really provide breast milk to premature infants.
Dr. Chetta: So, donor human milk banks can be either commercial or nonprofit. But the largest banking system is a nonprofit system called the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, or Habana HMBANA. It's a nonprofit with over 30 milk banks. We actually have one in North Charleston called the Mothers Milk Bank of South Carolina. Generally, it's from community moms that want to give away their extra breast milk to sick, hospitalized babies.
Conner: And tell us how this donor breast milk is actually processed to make it available then to the individual baby.
Dr. Chetta: When a mom wants to donate, she's fully screened, she's tested, and then she drops off her frozen breast milk at our depot side. So, depot sites then pick them up. We then pool them with other moms in order to make sure their nutrients are kind of equal through all the batches, and then it's pasteurized. After pasteurization, it gets refrozen and then sent to the hospitals. We also do tests and screening after the milk to make sure there's no extra bacteria, to make sure that babies are safe when they take it, and then it's fed directly to our hospitalized babies.
Conner: And how long might donor breast milk be needed for any individual baby who was born prematurely?
Dr. Chetta: Well, every unit and hospital is a little bit different with their recommendations, but we generally say we should stay on donor human milk, again, if mom's milk is not there, at least until around 33 weeks gestational age. That can really range closer to term depending on the center and other factors. But if it's the mom's milk, then the goal is to really have baby learn breastfeeding and get milk through the whole hospitalization.
Conner: And who are the milk donors typically and why do they participate?
Dr. Chetta: These are usually new breastfeeding or pumping moms that have given birth in the last 12 months. They have an excess of breast milk and someone told them, hey, do you want to give away your breast milk to sick babies? And they learn about it either through the internet or through their hospital. They go through extensive screening and laboratory work, and through the generosity of their hearts, they want to give their breast milk to these babies.
Conner: Doctor Chetta, thanks for talking with me about donor breast milk for premature infants.
Dr. Chetta: Thanks for having me, Bobbi.
Conner: From the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
