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SINGAPORE – For 15 days since Vianna was born on March 17, her mother, Mrs. Vivienne Low, 35, was only able to touch the baby’s tiny hands and watch her fight for her life through the transparent crystals of the incubator in neonatal intensive care unit. unit (NICU) at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).
Born 10 weeks early and weighed a quarter of the weight of a normal baby, at just 758g, he recovered, in part thanks to his mother’s abundant supply of breast milk.
Between 8 and 9 percent of babies here are premature, a figure that has been stable between 2014 and last year, the Health Ministry said.
These premature babies (premature babies) need nutritious breast milk to give them a chance to fight, as their immature digestive systems cannot tolerate formula milk.
Formula is also associated with a three to ten times higher risk of premature babies developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a serious intestinal disease. Babies who develop NEC may be required to stay in the hospital for an additional three weeks and, in more severe cases, may need surgery.
But many mothers of premature babies may experience difficulties providing enough breast milk for their own babies, especially in the first few days, said Dr. Chua Mei Chien, chief and senior consultant for the department of neonatology at KKH, who is also the director. of the KK Human Milk Bank.
The only Singapore milk bank at KKH not only helps premature babies, but also has sufficient reserves to help babies 12 months and younger with medical problems such as malabsorption and complex congenital heart disease.
More than 8,600 liters of breast milk have been donated since the bank was established in August 2017, helping more than 1,963 babies in Singapore. More than 735 mothers have donated their milk.
Ms. Low, a civil servant, is the champion donor for the KK Human Milk Bank, donating a total of 214 liters of breast milk as of November 30.
Contributed 139 liters during the circuit breaker. Another mother who donated generously was Junette De Jesus, 39, an IT business analyst, who donated 175 liters in the first nine months of this year.
Healthy women of any nationality can donate to the bank.
Ms Low said: “I had to start pumping immediately after Vianna was born to establish a good milk supply. Fortunately, the supply came quickly, but Vianna drank very little, consuming only 50 ml per day when she was just born , and I was extracting a little 1.5 liters a day. “
Vianna is Mrs. Low’s second daughter, but this is the first time she has donated milk to the bank.
“These premature babies, they come to the NICU and they start fighting for their lives … If what I can do can give them a better chance to fight, why not?” Mrs. Low added.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the milk bank also successfully maintained a healthy two-month reserve of pasteurized donor breast milk at all times, even as milk banks in other countries saw a sharp decline in donations, in largely due to mothers’ fears of contracting the virus when outdoors or in hospitals, Dr. Chua said.
A number of measures here, including a courier service to facilitate the collection of breast milk from donors who were unable to visit the milk bank, as well as the delivery of donor milk to recipients in the community, helped reassure mothers. and facilitate donation.
The circuit breaker, which made many work from home, also gave mothers more time and comfort to express milk. This resulted in a 60 percent increase in donor-donated milk from April to July compared to the same period last year, Dr. Chua said.
Since the launch of the bank, exclusive breast milk feeding, both with breast milk itself as well as pasteurized breast milk from donors, in the KKH NICU has increased from 20% to 97%.
Meanwhile, the number of babies who developed NEC dropped from 5.8 percent in August 2017 to 2 percent in July this year.
In October, the team behind the bank received the National Team Award for Clinical Excellence.
The bank, which is funded by the Fundación Temasek philanthropic organization, also received additional funding from the Temasek Foundation to expand the program from hospitals to the community starting in July last year to benefit more babies.
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