Mercy Health Breastmilk Bank
Providing vulnerable babies with safe, screened and pasteurised milk.
Thank you for your enquiry about becoming a breastmilk donor. We would like to inform you of changes to breastmilk banking in Victoria. Australian Red Cross Lifeblood has transitioned to become the milk banking service in Victoria, providing pasteurised donor breastmilk to babies across the state, as it does in other states across Australia.
Lifeblood will expand supply state-wide, and provide breastmilk to all premature babies in Victoria who need it.
If you would like to donate your breast milk, we encourage you to contact Lifeblood at ph 1300 459 040 or visit Lifeblood website.
Each year at the Mercy Hospital for Women we care for hundreds of babies and their mothers for whom breastfeeding has been interrupted for a range of reasons. This could be because of a maternal illness, during pregnancy, premature birth or the unexpected, severe illness of a baby born at full term. For the mothers of these babies, establishing normal lactation is extremely challenging, even with the assistance of our skilled midwives and lactation consultants.
Breastmilk provides all the nutrients a growing infant needs and, because of its protective effects, is universally regarded as a key aspect of infant survival.
Access to breastmilk, which is both immunologically and nutritionally rich, is especially important for vulnerable newborn babies, such as those born preterm. Hence the World Health Organisation (WHO)(1) recommends exclusively breastfeeding for the first six months of life.
1. World Health Organisation/UNICEF, 2003, Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, Geneva, accessed April 30, 2017
3200 litres of breastmilk provided by donor mothers to Breastmilk Bank from 2011 to 2018
Providing safe breastmilk to this vulnerable population is our priority.
Medical research has demonstrated that providing very preterm babies with Pasteurised Donor Milk, instead of manufactured formula, reduces the risk of some complications associated with feeding.
The Mercy Health Breastmilk Bank collects, processes and stores human milk that is donated by healthy breastfeeding mothers who are producing milk in excess of their infant’s needs and have undergone specific health and lifestyle screening.
This advertisement has been approved by the Victorian Minister for Health under section 40 of the Human Tissue Act 1982.