Jessica Rhodes has three children. Two of them needed donor breast milk after birth. “After we had gotten the donor breast milk and moved forward a few months, you started to see Jackson come alive,” Jessica says. “I mean, our therapists that would come to the home [would] say it, our nurses would say it. And they were just in awe of where we started to where we came to on donor breast milk, not only just developmentally but even with his breathing.” Breast milk provides newborns with important nutrients and supports growth and development. For babies with opioid withdrawal symptoms, the antibodies in breast milk provide better feeding tolerance and weight gain. Breast milk also can protect babies from certain health conditions. Newborns can be at risk for developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). NEC is a life-altering or life-threatening bacterial infection of the intestines. But if newborns receive human breast milk:
They have a lower incidence and severity of NEC.
It could prevent 1 in 10 cases of NEC.
It could prevent 1 in 8 cases of NEC that requires surgery or results in death.
“Human milk is one of the few things we provide babies in the NICU that is all benefit and no harm,” says Greg Barretto, MD, regional medical director, Division of Newborn Medicine, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. “Babies who receive human milk are less likely to die, have an infection, develop necrotizing NEC, or have neurodevelopmental disabilities. It is highly recommended that pasteurized donor milk be used if the mothers’ own milk is not available.”