Human milk bank

A human milk bank, or breast milk bank is a service which collects, screens, processes, and dispenses by prescription human milk donated by nursing mothers who are not biologically related to the recipient infant. The optimum nutrition for newborn infants is breastfeeding, if possible, for the first year. Human milk banks offer a solution to the mothers that cannot supply their own breast milk to their child, for reasons such as a baby being at risk of getting diseases and infections from a mother with certain diseases, or when a child has a condition such as necrotizing enterocolitis. It was found that human milk banks had an increase in the amount of milk collected in 2012 compared to 2007, in addition the amount of milk donated by each donor had also increased. Mothers' Milk Bank (MMB) says, this service provides mothers with an alternative to infant formula and allows the mother to give their newborn the nutrition it needs for healthy growth. The International Milk Banking Initiative (IMBI), was founded at the International HMBANA Congress in 2005. It lists 33 countries with milk bank programs. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that the first alternative to a biological mother not being able to breast feed is the use of human milk from other sources.