Page 4504 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 31 October 2018
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(6) calls on the ACT Government to investigate the feasibility of establishing an official milk bank in the ACT and/or partnering with neighbouring jurisdictions:
(a) to give ACT region women an opportunity to donate; and
(b) to supply breast milk to babies in and out of a hospital setting.
Madam Speaker, let me share Emma’s story. More than a year ago Emma and her husband, Matt, were shocked to discover they were expecting triplets. Fast forward several months and their three youngest daughters—Aleisha, Eloise and Maddilyn—were delivered by emergency caesarean. Emma ended up in emergency surgery for 4½ hours and she lost 4½ litres of blood. Thankfully, Emma was okay, but after surgery when she tried expressing milk she could not.
For parents with premature or ill babies and not enough expressed milk available, the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children has available a supply of donor breastmilk received from interstate charity Mothers’ Milk Bank. That milk is screened and it is the parents’ choice and their choice alone as to whether they wish to receive a supply of donor milk for their child. They are given information and support.
As a mother of three other children and already very passionate about breastfeeding, being able to access the donor milk at the hospital was a huge weight off Emma’s shoulders. As Emma says:
I just wanted the best start for them. Someone else was able to give that to my babies. I knew that milk was safe.
Initially Emma was grateful to feed all three girls with donor breastmilk, but the hospital’s supply of breastmilk is very limited. As the supply was cut back, Emma had to prioritise her smallest baby, Maddilyn. Before long, the hospital was unable to provide Emma’s daughters with any donor milk, but three babies still needed to be fed. With her own now limited supply, Emma was able to breastfeed Maddilyn. What was left over was given to her other two babies and had to be supplemented with formula.
Study upon study reinforces the benefits of breastmilk for babies. Breastmilk has a nutritional value uniquely matched to the needs of infants and contains nutrients essential for the development of children and their immunity. In fact, the National Health and Medical Research Council and the World Health Organisation recommend breastmilk as an infant’s exclusive nutrition source until six months of age.
But, as is clear in stories like Emma’s, the decision to breastfeed or not is not always a choice. Some women encounter problems with lactation and milk supply. This can include delayed lactation due to the premature birth of their child or an insufficient supply of milk, and it can include the separation of a mother from her newly born child due to illness. This can occur long after and out of a hospital setting. It can be scary, it can be hard and it can be heartbreaking for mothers, like Zoe, who face a low milk supply.
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