Summary
If every baby born early were fed with human milk, scores of lives would be saved in England and Wales alone. Yet most people have never heard of the milk banking service.
Milk banks work like the blood transfusion service - donors are carefully screened and milk is checked and heat-treated to ensure it is safe. The milk is then sent to hospitals to feed fragile premature babies in their first few days of life when enough of their own mother's milk is not available. This is a common situation, as their mothers are often ill themselves or too traumatised by watching their babies fight for life to express milk immediately.
We need your help. There is a widening gap in the NHS for the provision of donor breast milk, especially in London and the southeast. The Hearts Milk Bank can close that gap, and meet the need from doctors outside of the neonatal unit to access donor milk for their patients.
We currently have a waiting list of women who would love to donate their milk, and we have hospitals across London waiting to receive it. We now need your support to help save tiny babies’ lives.
Who are we?
I'm an Oxford-trained doctor and breast cancer researcher at Imperial College - through my work I started to collaborate with Gillian Weaver, an internationally recognised milk banking expert with almost 30 years of experience.
Working so closely with Gillian, I became aware of how important milk banks are. I also saw the increasing pressures on the existing milk banks, which have meant that many hospitals are currently unable to access donor milk, or milk is being rationed to only the very sickest babies. Milk bank staff across the region are working so hard, but still cannot meet the demand.
Gillian and I are therefore now working around the clock to establish the Hearts Milk Bank - a social enterprise non-profit organisation that aims to fill the gaps in provision.
We are now at the stage where we have premises at the University of Hertfordshire, volunteer couriers (the fantastic SERV Blood Bikers) who will pick up and deliver milk on their motorbikes, and a network of lactation consultants ready to start our Expresso Clubs - community groups where women can come together to learn about donating their milk and be recruited and supported as donors. And have some fantastic decaf coffee too!
Now, we just need your help.
What We Need
We need £50,000 to purchase the specialist equipment to make sure the milk is processed safely.
If we can raise the money through crowdfunding, we will be able to access other funds to train a specialised lactation consultant specifically to work with mothers who have lost their babies. There is currently minimal lactation support available for mothers in this situation, we aim to help mothers with their milk.
The Impact
Around 70,000 babies in the UK are born prematurely each year. According to the latest data, donor milk reduces the risk of babies developing necrotising enterocolitis, a gut condition that can be fatal in up to 40% of affected children, by 75%.
Silke Durm, the mother of two very premature children who received donor milk, says: “The Hearts Milk Bank will play a vital role in securing safe donor milk for all premature babies that need it. It will ensure that these vulnerable babies receive the best possible care, giving parents the peace of mind to know that they have done everything medically and physically possible to ensure that their baby has the best chance of survival.”
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can’t donate money, then there are plenty of other ways that you can help:
- Ask your friends to get the word out and make some noise about our campaign.
- Use the Indiegogo share tools to spread the Hearts Milk Bank all over social media.
- Listen to the podcasts when they are released on crowdcaster.com (Hearts_Milk_Bank) and share as widely as you can! We will post an update when the first goes live.
- Consider becoming a milk donor if you are currently breastfeeding.
- If you live nearby, contact us to discuss becoming a volunteer to the milk bank.
