Breast milk donors in Uganda give moms hope

Early final 12 months, Caroline Ikendi was devastated after present process an emergency caesarean part to take away a lifeless fetus and save two others. Docs mentioned one of many untimely infants had solely a 2 % probability of survival.

If the infants did not get breast milk – which she did not – she may lose them too.

Thus started a determined hunt for breast milk donors. She was fortunate with a neighbor, a girl who had a new child child to feed, and who was prepared to donate a number of milliliters at a time.

– You go begging for milk. You say “please assist me, assist my baby,” Ikendi advised the AP information company.

The neighbor contributed till Ikendi heard a few Ugandan group that collects breast milk and donates it to moms like her. Quickly the ATTA Breastmilk Neighborhood supplied her with the breastmilk she wanted, freed from cost, till her youngsters had been sturdy sufficient to be discharged from the hospital.

Excellent organisation

ATTA Breastmilk Neighborhood was launched in 2021 in Uganda’s capital Kampala by a girl who herself had struggled like Ikendi, with out having obtained assist. The non-profit group, which is supported by grants from organizations and people, is the one group exterior of hospitals in Uganda that shops breast milk in vital portions.

ATTA receives inquiries from hospitals and houses with youngsters who had been born prematurely or are too sick to be breastfed.

Greater than 200 moms have donated breast milk to over 450 infants since July 2021, and over 600 liters of milk have been delivered to infants throughout this era, in response to the group’s figures.

As a part of constructing a trusted neighborhood, many donors have given a number of instances, whereas others assist discover new ones, says ATTA Administrator Racheal Akugizibwe.

– We’re an emergency answer. Whereas the mom works on her personal manufacturing, we give her milk. However we do it beneath steering and with the assist of a breastfeeding professional and medical workers, she says, including:

– All moms who’ve given us milk are not directly related to us. They’re us, we’re them. That is what makes it a neighborhood.

ATTA is asking for donors through social media reminiscent of Instagram. Girls who want to donate should be examined for, amongst different issues, HIV and hepatitis B and C. Formal interviews are additionally performed the place the group gathers details about potential donors and their motivation. Those that move the checks are given storage luggage and directions on secure dealing with.

Created by a grieving mom

Tracy Ahumuza based the group in her own residence in 2021, whereas she was within the midst of non-public grief. She had failed to supply breast milk for her new child baby, who was battling life-threatening issues. A couple of days later, after the infant died, she began producing milk.

– She requested well being staff: “The place ought to I take advantage of the milk I’ve now?” They mentioned: “All we are able to do for you now could be provide you with tablets to dry it out”, says Akugizibwe, and says that the thought that others may want the milk then got here to thoughts.

To start with, ATTA related donors with recipients, however this proved unsustainable as a result of stress it positioned on the donors. The group then started accumulating and storing breast milk themselves, and donors and recipients not know one another.

Akugizibwe says they obtain extra requests for assist than they’ll accommodate. The challenges embrace acquiring storage luggage in massive portions, in addition to the prices of testing. Donors should even have their very own freezers, which could be a monetary impediment for some.

– The demand is extraordinarily, extraordinarily excessive, however the provide is low, says Akugizibwe.

Will broaden the operation

Lelah Wamala, a chef and mom of three in Kampala who has donated milk twice, says she was motivated to do one thing when, throughout a beginning in 2022, she noticed moms whose untimely infants had been dying as a result of they weren’t getting milk.

– Being a donor is a time-consuming duty, however it’s the proper factor to do, she says.

Through bike couriers in Kampala’s busy streets, breast milk from donors is transported to ATTA’s warehouse after which delivered to folks who want it.

ATTA’s purpose is to ascertain a full-fledged breast milk financial institution with the potential of pasteurisation. The service is important in a rustic the place ladies don’t obtain enough assist in breastfeeding, says Physician Doreen Mazakpwe, a specialist in breastfeeding who works with ATTA.

She highlights various issues moms can face in reference to breastfeeding, starting from sore nipples to infants born too sick or too weak to suckle and stimulate milk manufacturing.

Mazakpwe says she advises moms on methods to stimulate their very own manufacturing inside a month of donating breast milk. She says that generally all that’s wanted is to carry the kid in the precise manner. When the moms begin producing milk, it frees up provides for brand new ones who want ATTA’s assist.

Social challenges

Akugizibwe believes their work is difficult in a socially conservative society, the place such a pioneering service is attracting consideration. Even among the many recipients, many concern that infants who drink donated breast milk might inherit the dangerous habits of the donors.

As well as, there may be a number of negativity related to not breastfeeding, says Ikendi. Her youngsters have survived on donated milk.

– Society appears to be like at you as in the event you merely refused to breastfeed.

She says she struggled although she knew she had no alternative after seeing her youngsters within the intensive care unit for the primary time. By means of the glass she noticed that they had been tiny, receiving oxygen remedy and bleeding from the nostril. The infants, a boy and a woman, had been taken out of the womb after they had been seven months previous.

Ikendi’s baby obtained donated breast milk for 2 months. She tells AP, together with her youngsters in her arms, how essential the donated milk was for his or her progress.