A Quebec charity says breast milk and access to specialized hospital-grade pumps can help protect extremely premature babies.
The Story
Quebec charity Préma-Québec is highlighting the importance of breast milk for premature newborns as World Prematurity Day is marked on Sunday.
Préma-Québec says about 6,000 babies are born prematurely in Quebec each year, making up seven per cent of births in the province. The charity said Quebec has six hospitals with neonatal intensive care units staffed by neonatologists around the clock, with about 10 other centres caring for babies born between 32 and 34 weeks and additional facilities for those born later.
The charity’s focus includes a program that provides mothers with free access to specialized breast pumps. Préma-Québec said a hospital-grade pump can cost about $2,700, compared with roughly $400 for a regular model, while some pharmacies and breastfeeding support organizations rent specialized pumps for about $100 a month.
Ginette Mantha, founder and executive director of Préma-Québec, said access can become harder once parents leave the neonatal unit in the evening, especially for mothers who have other children at home.
Mantha said that for some health-care professionals, a mother’s milk becomes “like medicine, nothing more, nothing less,” because it helps protect the baby’s intestinal flora and provides antibodies.
She also said that among extremely premature babies born at 28 weeks or earlier, for every 20 babies who receive their mother’s milk, one death is prevented.
Mantha said Préma-Québec also provides psychological support to families who lose a child after a premature birth, including support for siblings dealing with grief at home. The charity said health-care professionals also encourage kangaroo care, holding a baby skin-to-skin against a parent’s chest.
The charity’s message was echoed by Annie Sicotte, who said she experienced 11-week-early birth of her first daughter last time and recalled the fear and trauma of being unable to hold her baby immediately. Sicotte said the only things parents can do are to be there and, for the mother, try to pump milk.
Sicotte said she received a hospital-grade breast pump through Préma-Québec’s free lending program, allowing her to express milk at the hospital and at home throughout her daughters’ stays in intensive care. She described her advice to other parents as taking things “one day at a time,” likening the experience to “really like a roller coaster.”
← More stories