The University of Colorado College of Nursing’s Center for Midwifery – Longmont (CFM-Longmont) practice is partnering with Mother’s Milk Bank (MMB) as one of the milk bank’s newest human milk donation locations in the Denver metro area, and the first in the city of Longmont. To celebrate, CFM-Longmont will be hosting a kick-off reception at 10 a.m. on Feb. 14 at 2030 Mountain View Avenue, Suite 400, which is open to the public.
“This new site allows families in the Longmont and surrounding communities to donate human milk at a convenient location,” said Jessica Anderson, director of midwifery services with CU Nursing.
The Longmont site joins more than 30 other MMB donation sites across the state. The Colorado-based non-profit dispenses 750,000-plus ounces of human donor milk each year.
“Donor milk is mostly used in hospitals to provide medically fragile and premature infants with breast milk, which is the best for them,” said Anderson. According to Laraine Lockhart Borman, MMB director of outreach, “It is the number 1 source to give to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit baby whose mother can’t supply it. The donation sites are literally the lifelines for their community.” Numerous studies show that being exclusively human-milk fed boosts health outcomes in sick and premature babies – so much so, NICU providers consider breastmilk medicine.
“Over the last several years, the medical community has realized that breastmilk offers optimal nutrition for babies,” said Nicole Clifton, MD, and pediatrician with CU School of Medicine. “It provides special protections against specific conditions unique to preterm infants.”
For Lafayette resident Jessica Hilbun Schwartz, MMB was “peace of mind.” After her son Miles was born prematurely and was too weak to nurse for long, Schwartz turned to MMB to help supplement with donor milk. “He’d nurse for a few minutes and just got tired and fall asleep. He just didn’t have the stamina. It was good peace of mind for me to know he was getting those extra nutrients.” But for Schwartz, the closest location was several miles away. “Closer would have been nicer,” said Schwartz.
Mothers’ Milk Bank was established in Denver, CO in 1984, in response to a mother who could not produce enough milk to feed her premature baby. Since its establishment, Mothers’ Milk Bank has had 14,000 milk donors, and dispensed more than 5 million ounces to countless babies in need. MMB fully screens donors while keeping it as easy on them as possible, Lockhart Borman said.
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