Mother's Milk
Promoting breast-feeding in Texas
 
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For more information

Texas Department of Health

Texas 10-Step Hospital Program, (512) 406-0744

Texas breast-feeding helpline, (800) 514-MOMS

WIC Health Line, (800) 723-3638

Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin,
(512) 494-0800

    
     

Texas’ First Donor
Milk Bank

The Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin is one of only seven donor milk banks in the country. Donor milk banks accept donated breast milk, then process and distribute it by prescription for use by infants whose own mothers cannot provide sufficient expressed milk to feed them.

“We’ll dispense primarily to Austin-area hospitals for premature and sick hospitalized babies, then to other sick babies here and in Texas and, eventually, to hospitals around the region,” said Andrea Morgan, executive director of Mother’s Milk Bank at Austin.

Potential donors are interviewed, then complete a detailed application. Both the mother’s and baby’s physicians have to attest to their health and approve the donation. The mothers also submit a blood sample that is screened for HIV, human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV), syphilis, and hepatitis B and C. They pump in the comfort and privacy of their own homes, then deliver the milk to the bank, where it is pasteurized.

“We estimate we’ll need about 100 donors per year to serve 200 to 300 patients,” Morgan said. “We have 50 donors who have been approved or are in the process. Community response has been great.”

~Jane Erwin
   

By Jane Erwin
Photo: Eyewire
July 22, 1999

If breast-feeding is best, why aren’t more moms doing it? Part of the problem may be a lack of information and support. Texas hospitals are taking steps to correct this by providing services and education to new mothers and by training the healthcare professionals who care for them.

The state is also showing its support with the Texas Department of Health (TDH) Breast-Feeding Initiative. Its goal is to create an environment in Texas that totally supports breast-feeding mothers and to increase breast-feeding rates to 75 percent (at hospital discharge) and 50 percent at six months postpartum by 2004. Current Texas breast-feeding rates are 60.5 percent at hospital discharge and 22.1 percent at six months postpartum. To accomplish this, the TDH has called upon hospitals to provide breast-feeding education and support programs for new and expectant mothers.

Although there are times breast-feeding is discouraged—such as when mothers are taking certain medications, are HIV-positive, or have active TB—research shows that breast-fed infants have lower incidences of gastrointestinal diseases, respiratory infections, ear infections, allergies, and sudden infant death syndrome. Mothers who breast-feed have lower occurrences of urinary tract infections and breast, ovarian, and cervical cancers.

“Sometimes healthcare professionals know breast-feeding is best, but they lack the skills to support their patients,” said certified lactation consultant Jeanne Mitchell, MSN, RN, breast-feeding promotion nurse for the TDH. “We need to continue efforts in educating women and in educating healthcare professionals. Having support means success.”

Hospital support

The TDH recently adopted the Texas 10-Step Hospital Program to encourage and recognize hospitals that offer an optimal level of care for breast-feeding. Patterned after the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative of the World Health Organization, the program encourages hospital staff training; breast-feeding education for all pregnant women; encouragement of mothers and newborns to breast-feed within an hour of birth, with 30 minutes the ideal; and 24-hour rooming-in.

Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler has been working toward baby-friendly status for several years. It offers prenatal classes for expectant mothers, rooming-in, and postpartum telephone support. In addition, Trinity Mother Francis has a “no-formula, no-pacifier” policy in its nursery.

“The whole package helps more moms breast-feed and breast-feed longer. Babies will be healthier in the long run, and we won’t see them back here in the hospital with illnesses,” said Kathy Birt, RN, lactation center coordinator at the hospital. “We had a 72 percent breast-feeding initiation rate last year, and I feel it will be higher this year due to our increased education efforts.”

Trinity Mother Francis is also a mother-friendly worksite, offering employees time off and a place to either breast-feed their babies or pump and store milk, Birt said.

At Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston the emphasis on breast-feeding has led to the nation’s first “mother’s own milk bank,” a state-of-the-art collection, labeling, refrigeration, and dispensing center that stores and prepares deposited breast milk to feed infants in the newborn center.

“The milk bank and lactation support program at Texas Children’s was developed specifically to help mothers who are going to be separated from their infants but who still wish to breast-feed,” said certified lactation consultant Nancy Hurst, RN, manager of the hospital’s lactation support program.

Texas Children’s milk bank is surrounded by several private rooms where mothers can come 24 hours a day to use hospital-provided breast pumps and collection bottles, Hurst said. Nurses trained in lactation consultation are available to counsel mothers about lactation problems. To ensure accuracy, technicians at the milk bank prepare every bottle sent to the nurseries. Texas Children’s is in the middle of a four-year study to compare the benefits of infants’ receiving only their mothers’ milk, a combination of their mothers’ milk and donor milk, or formula only.

Baby-friendly programs

The Texas Lactation Support Network is also part of the TDH’s breast-feeding promotion project. This directory is used by healthcare professionals working with mothers and babies to help answer questions and find lactation services. The TDH’s Breast-Feeding Peer Counselor Program promotes and supports breast-feeding in Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics and hospitals. The program trains WIC mothers who have successfully breast-fed their infants to serve as peer counselors and offer encouragement, information, and support to other WIC mothers. In addition, the TDH offers breast-feeding mothers a statewide toll-free helpline.