AAB 117 Julie Bouchet-Horwitz, FNP, IBCLC Executive Director The New York Milk Bank, Inc

All infants in need deserve to have human milk.  Our most smallest and sickest of babies need to have donor milk to help them get the best start in life.  Donor milk will help dramatically reduce the risk of succumbing to necrotizing enterocolitis  (NEC), which is a really bad infection that causes their gut to slough off and die.  Premies are more susceptible to this then full term babies. The reason donor milk is often needed for these babies is because their moms have not gone through the full 40 weeks gestation. This time period allows their mammary glands to prepare for milk production.  Between the early birth and the stress associated with it, some moms just don't have milk available for their baby - just yet.  Read More