Human milk bank

A human milk bank or breast milk bank is a service which collects, screens, processes, and dispenses by prescription human milk donated by nursing mothers who are not biologically related to the recipient infant. The optimum nutrition for newborn infants is breastfeeding, if possible, for the first year. Human milk banks offer a solution to the mothers that cannot supply their own breast milk to their child, for reasons such as a baby being at risk of getting diseases and infections from a mother with certain diseases, or when a child is hospitalized at birth due to very low birth weight (and thus at risk for conditions such as necrotizing enterocolitis), and the mother cannot provide her own milk during the extended stay for reasons such as living far from the hospital.Donating breast milk can be traced back to the practice of wet nursing. The first record of regulations regarding the sharing of breastmilk are found in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (1800 BC). These regulations were motivated by the long-held belief that infants inherit the nurse's traits through their breast milk. By the 11th century European culture considered breastfeeding indecent, which led wet nursing to become common practice among royalty and aristocracy of Europe. The practice of wet nursing declined by the 19th century due to concerns regarding unhealthy lifestyles among nurses. Consequently, the medical community began researching the effects of alternative nutrition on neonates. Theodor Escherich of the University of Vienna conducted studies from 1902 to 1911 investigating different sources of nutrition and their effect on neonates. His studies demonstrated that breastfed neonate's intestinal bacteria was significantly different compared to neonates fed by other means. In 1909, Escherich opened the first human milk bank . The following year, another milk bank opened in the Boston Floating Hospital, the first milk bank in the US.A donor must: Some concerns that surround human milk bank include:After the milk has been donated the primary consumer of the milk are premature babies; other consumers include adults with medical complications or conditions. The main reason why premature babies consume donor milk is that the mother cannot provide milk for the baby. The donor milk therefore acts as a substitute.Human milk banks offer families a chance to provide their child with reliable and healthy milk from other mothers. Human milk banks are needed as they offer milk which mostly is consumed by children whose mothers are not able to provide them with reliable milk.Brazil has an extensive network of 217 milk banks, and is considered to have the most cost efficient system of milk banking in the world. Since the inception of the first milk bank in 1985, the infant mortality rate in Brazil has dropped 73% due, in part, to the popularization of milk banks. In 2011, 165,000 liters (5,580,000 fl oz) of breast milk were donated by some 166,000 mothers, and provided to nearly 170,000 babies. The Brazilian and Ibero-American Network of Human Milk Banks coordinates these efforts. All donors are screened: in general, they must be healthy and not be taking any medication. The Brazilian system is defined by its inexpensive pasteurization of milk and has spread to other countries such as Spain, Portugal, the Cape Verde Islands, and portions of the rest of Latin America.