Quebec's breast milk bank struggles to find donors

Hma-Qubec is reaching out to new mothers in hopes of gaining donors for its breast milk bank.

It was launched in 2014.

The goal is to provide mother's milk to the province's premature babies, whose mothers can have difficulty producing enough milk to feed their infantfor a variety of reasons, according toHma-Qubec's website.

• Hma-Qubec needs at least 100 new mothers to donate breast milk
• More than half of newborns not breastfed in 1st hour, raising health risks, UNICEF says

The non-profit organization currently has 270 mothers participating in the milk donation program, but says it needs 80 more by the end of March.

"We're basically in a situation that we have to recruit mothers on a constant basis," said Hma-Qubec's Laurent-Paul Mnard.

But recruiting new mothers is challenging because of time constraints.

Mothers who donate breast milk can usuallydo so for a span of six months, Mnardsaid.

Extremely preterm infants who are fed mother's milk from the bank are up to three times less prone to contracting a serious intestinal disease something that affects many preemies every year, according to Hma-Qubec's website.

'Doing the right thing'

For Inbal Itzhak, whose son Leo is 14 months old, donating breast milk was a relatively easy process and she was happy to know she was helping other new moms.

"I can identify with a new mom because I've been there myself," Itzhak said.

"Anything that can reduce stress and make you feel like you are doing the right thing for your child is some relief."

She saidshe was provided with 100 bottles from Hma-Qubec, but was under no means pressured to fill them all by a certain time.

In the end, she filled 40 bottles to donate, she said.

After filling out registration forms andbecoming an official breast milk donor, all Itzhak had to do was follow some simple hygiene guidelines in order to donate her breast milk.

After putting milk in bottles and freezing it, nursing mothers send their milk to Hma-Qubec, where stafftest it for nutritional value, pasteurize it, store it in a freezer, and distribute to hospitals to be fed to preterm infants.

Mothers who would like to donate their breast milk canvisit the public mother's milk bank sectionof the Hma-Qubec website.