Neome Abay-abay’s regular job as a registered midwife at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital involves bringing out to the world hundreds of babies from mothers who come to the hospital expecting a normal and safe delivery at minimal costs.
Fabella hospital, which has been existence since 1920, is a known alternative for maternal services among the indigent. Because of this popular notion, Fabella now handles more than 80 deliveries a day in their 700-bed facility.
But for Neome, she not only looks after the welfare of the mothers but also the welfare of their offspring after birth. For the first few days at least, that means making sure the baby gets the right amount of sleep and nutrition and nothing else. It is said that newborns do nothing but sleep, eat and then go back to sleep only to wake up and eat again, and so the cycle goes.
Unfortunately, not every mother who has given birth can supply the right amount of breast milk for her baby. Or worse, some cannot even provide breast milk from the onset.
So Neome’s task as she makes her rounds doing counseling is also to spot lactating mothers who have abundant supply of human milk that they can donate to those in need. Her job has been made easy by the establishment of a milk bank in Fabella, one of only three found in government hospitals.
Essentially, a milk bank is a facility that collects, screens, stores and dispenses breast milk donated by lactating mothers who are not related to the recipient infant. Milk banks offer a place to collect the milk, a laboratory to screen the donated milk, a pasteurizer to prolong the milk’s life and a freezer to store it.
Pasteurized donor milk is not actually for sale, but those who want to avail of it need to pay a processing fee for the pasteurization.
People who wish to avail of the donated breast milk should bring the clinical abstract and prescription by the doctor for their baby. Aside from that, the milk banks require them to have a cooler on hand so that the milk would not spoil during the transfer from the milk bank to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where feeding is done.
Right now, there are only three milk banks in the whole of Metro Manila where lactating mothers can donate their milk. These are the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital (DJFMH), the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) and the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Makati City is establishing a community-based milk bank but it is not yet operating regularly at present.
According to Dr. Estrella Olonan-Jusi, Human Milk Bank Coordinator of the DJFMH, the milk bank is primarily a service to aid and provide hundreds of babies with the right nutrients when their mothers don’t have enough or can’t produce breast milk due to various reasons.
June Isis Evasco, a homemaker has been donating milk for almost a year now. Being an active breastfeeding advocate, she still breastfeeds her 4-year old daughter Jeremy and her one-year old son Justine. She said she does not want to waste the excess milk she is producing, which is why she opted to donate it, seeing many children will benefit from it, particularly those born prematurely.
Aside from the fulfillment of helping other babies, June says there are other benefits mothers can gain from donating milk. Breast milk is free so it is economical to the family. Breastfeeding burns a lot of calories so women tend to lose weight. Breastfeeding can also be a form of natural contraception for those exclusively breastfeeding for six months. More than these however, June says that the bonding that she get with her kids is the most special benefit she gets from breastfeeding.
For those who wish to donate breast milk, you can get in touch with the following milk banks:
Dr. Jose Fabella Medical Hospital - tel. 3433165
Philippine Children’s Medical Hospital - tel. 9240840 or 9246601 local 354
Philippine General Hospital - tel. 5362867
