~Eva
Introduction
I want to introduce the topic of cord blood banking via a short illustrative piece about breast feeding - please indulge me and hopefully you will see the point!
Colostrum and Breast Feeding - there is a connection!
I first learned about the importance of colostrum to the new born as a farmer's daughter - colostrum has always been highly prized and surplus supplies are routinely collected and stored frozen on the farm for any sickly newborn animals who may need a therapeutic dose. However, it has taken much longer to convince the medical profession of the crucial health benefits and potentially life- saving properties of human colostrum! Lots of babies, including the most sick and vulnerable, still go without the precious first dose of this highly specialised living complex of cells, antibodies, 'good bacteria', growth factors, nutrients and hormones, all specifically designed to prepare the immune system, the digestive tract and other organ systems for life in the outside world.
As a midwife, I have always supported women and babies to successfully breastfeed. I've also helped other mothers in their battles to ensure their premature / special care babies receive the benefit of colostrum and breast milk, even if this had to be donated from another breast feeding mum. It is wonderful that through the hard work of a local campaign and public fundraising a local breast milk bank has now been established but nationally, provision remains patchy.
