Singapore launches first human milk bank
Donated breast milk goes to premature and sick babies
By Toh Ee-ming
Singaporean mothers who do not have enough breast milk to feed their premature or sick infants will now be able to draw on Singapore’s first human milk bank – launched as part of a new three-year pilot between KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and Temasek Foundation Cares.
The programme aims to “provide a ready supply of safe, pasteurised human breast milk” donated for premature and sick neonates of mothers who may be unable to provide adequate breast milk to support their babies’ requirement”, said KKH and Temasek Foundation Cares in a statement.
It is set to benefit 900 babies, and aims to recruit 375 donor mothers who are willing to donate their excess supply breast milk to KKH, Singapore General Hospital and National University Hospital over a three-year period.
Funded by Temasek Foundation Cares, the milk bank – which is managed by KKH – will collect, screen, process and store breast milk received from donors.
The bank will follow strict international guidelines for donor screening, recruitment and education, laboratory testing, processing and storage of the pasteurised milk, before it is dispensed for use.
Dr Chua Mei Chien, director of the Temasek Foundation Cares donor human milk bank programme and senior consultant at KKH’s department of neonatology, said breast milk is the nutritional standard for infants in the first six months, and contains white blood cells and antibodies which can protect the baby against infections, for instance.