Ahmedabad mothers donated 90 litres of their milk to help stranger babies!

AHMEDABAD: Rushina Doctor Marfatia (29) might as well be a supermom. In past three months, she has donated 12 litres of her breast milk and helped save five pre-mature babies battling for life in ICUs. Biological mothers of these babies were either too sick or could not provide their milk to them.


"Rushina's deed is priceless. Her milk served as panacea for these fragile babies weighing anywhere between 600 gm and 1.5 kg who are more prone to infections," said senior neonatologist Dr Ashish Mehta of Arpan Newborn Care Center. The centre started Arpan's MOM (mother's own milk) bank earlier this year on a pilot basis.

Rushina, who became a mother to baby Viaan on September 20, says she realized she expressed more milk than her boy could feed on. "When I wondered if I could donate the milk for some sick or needy baby, my father rummaged through hospitals and found this bank. Apart from exclusively breast-feeding my son, I started donating my milk and do not plan to stop anytime soon," says Rushina, a former event manager who now teaches event management at a private college. She believes the children are healthiest when breast-fed for a long time.

Rushina is part of the army of nearly 250 mothers who donated their milk to Arpan MOM Bank. It has so far got nearly 90 litres of mother's milk in donations which roughly translates to 600 milk feeds of 150-ml each.

Mother’s milk is miracle food for babies: Doctors

Vidhi Shah, an NRG settled in US, donated over a litre of her milk which she had expressed and froze before she left for US this month.

Dr Disha Kathiriya, mother to two girls, one of whom is eight months old, says, “Being a doctor I know mother's milk is miracle food for babies.”

"Medically, human milk is known to be the best food for a baby which is most easily digestible, full of nutrients and boosts immunity of infants to fight diseases. Needless to say, when we fed premature babies, whose intestines are very weak and under-developed in ICUs with mother's milk instead of formula, 50% of the children got better faster and did not report digestive troubles which slowdown their progress," says Dr Mehta.

Neonatologist Dr Manish Shah who manages the mother's milk bank says that the milk is first cultured for any infection and donating mothers screened for serious infections. "When the result comes negative to both counts, the milk is pasteurized and fed to babies in ICU. Infants whose mothers are themselves fighting with illnesses or delivery related complications or do not lactate enough are given prioirty," says Dr Shah.

Poonam, mother of twin boys born premature at 29 weeks weighing 900 gms and 1.3 kg respectively, is one such mother whose boys benefited from donated milk. "Since I delivered prematurely, there was not enough milk for both boys. The donated milk has helped my boys recuperate much better," said Poonam, tears welling in her eyes.
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