Santa Casa holds special program for World Human Milk Donation Day
The goal is to encourage human milk donation and strengthen the mobilization about the importance of breastfeeding as a way to save lives
The Santa Casa de Misericórdia Foundation promotes, until May 23, a series of activities in homage to Human Milk Donation Week. The action is part of a collective effort to encourage the donation of breast milk, essential for the survival of newborns hospitalized in neonatal ICUs. With the theme "Human Milk Donation – A Humanitarian Gesture that Nourishes Hope", the campaign aims to raise awareness and mobilize the population about the vital role of this act of solidarity.
Housewife Catiane Nascimento, a resident of the municipality of Viseu (northeast of the state) who was at the premature outpatient clinic for a consultation for her twin sons Bernardo and Pietro, was pleased with the tips from the technicians of the Human Milk Bank of Santa Casa about the procedure to stimulate breastfeeding. "These teachings are very cool. They helped me with a position I didn't know, here on the side for my children to breastfeed without problems. And now one of my twins has started to suck better. And I can only thank for this help."
Vanda Marvão, the technical nutritionist responsible for the Human Milk Bank of the Santa Casa Foundation, emphasizes that World Milk Donation Day is important to draw society's attention to the importance and need for donation. "Informing the population, breastfeeding mothers, health professionals, and mobilizing people so that we can inform about the importance of breastfeeding and donation for newborns hospitalized in neonatal units."
"To reinforce the importance of the act of donation, we held a blitz around Santa Casa, informing people, not just the breastfeeding mother, but informing everyone because there may be someone at home, a family member, an acquaintance, a neighbor, who is breastfeeding, and who is a potential donor. And thus we can publicize our need for this milk. And with this action today, we reinforce the need for donation of this breast milk," informs Dr. Vanda Marvão.
The program continues until May 23, with a series of actions at the hospital. The Breast Milk Donation Week encourages the donation of breast milk to Human Milk Banks. It is coordinated by Sespa, the Santa Casa de Misericórdia Foundation (FSCMP), and the Fire Department of Pará, through the project Firefighters of Life.
The goal of the week is to promote human milk donation in the maternal-infant line, raising community awareness about the importance of this act for the nutrition of premature and low-birth-weight newborns, in line with the objectives of the Brazilian Network of Human Milk Banks (rBLH-BR).
Human milk donation is a fundamental act of solidarity to ensure the nutrition and healthy development of premature newborns, low birth weight, or with other conditions that prevent them from being breastfed directly by their own mother. Human milk is the ideal food for these babies, offering numerous immunological, nutritional, and emotional benefits.
Cynara Souza, coordinator of the Human Milk Bank of the Santa Casa Foundation, informs that May 19 was created for a major global mobilization, to raise society's awareness that there are lives in neonatal ICUs. "And these lives are the most sensitive, the most tender, the premature, who need multidisciplinary care, who need the support of the hospital unit, and who also need human milk donation as a source of survival, as a source of prevention, and as a source of weight gain."
"And the Milk Bank here at Santa Casa, which is the reference maternity hospital for the state, works as a support house for breastfeeding, supporting mothers, in a network of care. And this care network encourages and supports this woman with a series of information, especially for mothers who are unable to breastfeed directly, to produce their own milk to feed their babies. And at this moment, the importance of the technical work of the Human Milk Bank arises, making reserve stocks to help these babies who still cannot suck their mothers' milk," emphasizes Cynara.
Partnerships - The Milk Bank of Santa Casa, created in 1987, is now one of the largest in the country. One of the most significant partnerships is with the Firefighters of Life Project, which collects human milk from the homes of donors. In the first four months of this year, 867 liters of human milk were collected and 741 liters were distributed to newborns in the hospital's neonatology area. Currently, there are 669 active donors.
Maria Alves Belém, director of Technical and Operational Support of the Santa Casa Foundation, highlights the partnerships with the institution in strengthening the work of the Milk Bank, such as the Firefighters of Life Project, which has an updated Technical Cooperation agreement. "We send collection kits to voluntary donors to extract human milk daily to supply the milk bank's stocks and feed low-birth-weight newborns who need breast milk. The Brazilian Navy is another partner that is committed to collecting glass jars for the campaign during the Naval race, adding to the dissemination about the importance of breastfeeding and donation from mothers who have excess milk."
"Another significant moment of partnership is in collecting glass jars for the collection, storage, and preservation of human milk. This is an act of solidarity and sustainable donation led by Equatorial to support the Milk Bank. This partnership comes through the Equatorial E-Recycling project. We also have a partnership with the Humanitarian Mission for the collection and donation of human milk, which is a joint initiative between the Assembly of God church and the Santa Casa Bank that aims to raise awareness in the population about the importance of milk donation and facilitate collection and distribution," points out the director.
Every breastfeeding woman is a potential human milk donor, as long as she is healthy, does not take medications that interfere with breastfeeding, and does not have any infectious diseases. There is no minimum amount for donation. According to Fiocruz, one liter of donated breast milk can feed up to 10 newborns per day. Depending on the weight of the premature baby, one (1) ml is already enough to nourish him each time he is fed. Registration to apply for donation can be done by calling: 3251-7311 (Milk Bank) or 3251-7212 (Firefighters of Life).
