SABR

Have you been wondering what we do with your breastmilk? Its simple!

1 Donor mommy, 2 bottles of breastmilk, 3 days, 4 babies

Triplet girls were born on Monday 11th September at Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria. The baby girls weighed 1.1, 1.6 and 1.8 Kg.

Their mommy is very ill and by Thursday the 14th was still unable to lactate. The triplets were kept on a drip as they were at high risk of Necrotizing Enter Colitis (NEC).

NEC is an acute inflammatory disease occurring in the intestines of premature infants; causing extensive ulceration and necrosis of the ileum and colon.

Prof. Delport contacted SABR for a breastmilk donation. She is a firm believer in the importance of breastfeeding. Upon meeting with her she told me: “Six years ago I walked into a diarrhea epidemic, that day I decide breastmilk only!” Since then and through the support of numerous doctors and academics, Kalafong has been at the forefront of breastfeeding implementation within a state facility, by promoting and educating HIV positive mothers in the heat treatment of breastmilk and by offering Kangaroo care for premature babies. The miracles they performed and you should see it to believe it, have saved the lives of many little ones

By Friday morning, the 15th, we delivered 50 bottles of donated breastmilk. The quantity was a rough estimate, 150 milliliters per kilogram of body weight per day. The supply was intended to last two weeks, the window period where the risk of NEC is highest.

The donated breastmilk was met with approval by the Kalafong medical community with the promise of taking great care in the handling and administration. Over three days the baby girls received two bottles of donated breastmilk, 2 ml at a time. Their mother was finally able to lactate and is now breastfeeding. The babies are safe from NEC and thriving.

A fourth baby was fed from the same 2 bottles of donated breastmilk. He weighs 600g, and his mother has undergone extensive abdominal surgery. We have been informed that she has since successfully managed to lactate.

A few days on donated breastmilk can mean the life of a little one and a mother ultimately breastfeeding successfully. Mothers receiving the donated breastmilk are actively encouraged to lactate and the importance of breastmilk, especially when they give birth to premature infants, is explained to them.

Most of the 50 bottles of donated breastmilk were from a batch of 120 bottles donated by one SABR donor.

Just imagine how many babies can be helped with only a few bottles of your breastmilk!

2006 has been a very exciting year, with milestone events trough out the year’s calendar. In August, SABR will officially open its office doors at the Triba, mother and baby wellness centres, in Craighall Park. SABR has been incorporated into Triba’s Corporate Social Investment program. We are looking at two satellite bottle collection and drop of points in Benoni and Pretoria. And finally we are negotiating an in-hospital breastmilk bank, more on this at a later stage.

Finally, as I’m sure you have noticed, we have launched www.sabr.org.za, a forum for all lactation fanatics, moms, babes and interested parties. The site is interactive and offers viewers the opportunity to post notices and ask questions, bringing our consultants closer to the public. Watch this space!

Take out pen and paper. The Gauteng Breastfeeding Forum has organised a ‘full day symposium on breastfeeding matters’. Gauteng’s top lactation consultants, Brenda Pierce, Brenda Campbel and Dr Jennifer Naude will present a variety of topics, from ‘Breastfeeding babies in Neo-natal Care’ to ‘Ethical issue’ on breastfeeding and ‘Implementing ‘The 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding?’’. Dr Elize van Rooyen, the La Leche League and SABR have also been invited to report back on their programs.

When: Friday, 25th August 2006
Where: UNITAS Hospital, Clifton Avenue, Lyttleton, Pretoria
Cost: Members R80 / Non-members R120
RSVP: It is critical to RSVP by 11th August 2006

Be there!

Become a donor with the South African Breastmilk Reserve.
Help us in helping our children!

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The South African Breastmilk Reserve (SABR) is a Social Profit Organisation (SPO is a change in convention from NPO that is coming into effect with the opening of SASIX (South Africa Social Investment Exchange) at the JSE and follows global trends. The focus is on the use of positive terminology, so instead of non-profit we are now social profit organisations). Two breastfeeding promotion programs are being run through SABR; the human milkbank in Johannesburg that provides infants with safe pasteurised breastmilk for the purpose of improving their health and well-being, and the Feed For Life initiative that endeavour to empower women living in poverty and with HIV/AIDS, through informed infant feeding choices.

It has been a very exciting year and in view of the opening of two new breastmilk banks SABR is looking for breastmilk donors nationally, to help our associate breastmilk banks, for people interested in donating their time, and for funding/money-donations to aid in the equipping and running of the breastmilk banks.

For more information please contact Stasha Jordan info@sabr.org.za , telephone number 082 7000 409.