Devon donors boost breast milk supplies for early babies

Forty-six breast milk donors were recruited by the Tiverton depot in 2021

A depot in Devon that collects donor breast milk, provides 40% of the total processed for the South West.

Babies in neonatal units across the region are fed the donated milk, after pasteurisation at a milk bank in Bristol.

The depot in Tiverton allows the service to access donors in North Devon and Somerset, as well as those local to the main facility.

On average 60-80 litres of donated milk is distributed in the region per month.

Donor breast milk is regarded as the "next best nutrition" for premature or vulnerable babies if a mother's own milk is unavailable, according to The Southwest Neonatal Network Donor Milk Bank.

This is because it offers protection from infection as well as serious gastrointestinal problem - necrotising enterocolitis - and it is easier to digest.

Breast milk donor Zoe Salter said having breast milk available for premature babies whose mothers cannot produce their own "can sometimes take the stress off".

She added: "They can use some donor milk for a few days while they are waiting for their own milk supply to come through."

Healthy Babies UK in Tiverton started collecting donated breast milk in 2017

Once per month, frozen milk from the depot in Tiverton is taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol where it is pasteurised.

Joanna Thomas, a volunteer driver who transports milk to the depot, said: "I had a premature baby so very much understood how very quickly it was vital for the baby and I wanted to be able to give something back really, to support the mums and babies who vitally need it."

The milk bank in Bristol serves 12 neonatal units in the South West, where the breast milk is given to premature and vulnerable babies in their care.

It is the only regional service in England and is funded by the NHS, while the depot in Tiverton is run by a not-for-profit company, Healthy Babies UK.

Midwife Liz Gunn, who set up the depot, said: "We would like to feel financially secure with what we are doing. Everything we've done to set up and work with the NHS has been self-funded through grants and fundraising.

"Any profit within the other areas of work that we do here at the hub goes towards supporting the donor milk bank because we feel really strongly it's the right thing to do."