Got Milk?
by Jill Youse Jill Youse is sending her breast milk to help babies in South Africa. Jill, 28, a Columbia resident, went from not wanting to breast-feed her daughter, Estella, to sending about 1,000 ounces of her milk to South Africa to feed HIV/AIDS-orphaned babies. Jill realized in the first month of breastfeeding her daughter Estella, that she overproduced breast milk. Estella, now 9 months old could never use all the milk Jill produced. There will be no frozen dinners for Jill's family. Breast milk is now taking up all the room in her freezer. Mrs.Youse began researching possible uses for the milk and came across iThemba Lethu, a not-for-profit organization in Durban, South Africa, that takes in HIV/AIDS orphans. In 2001 Professor Anna Coutsoudis of the University of Kwa Zulu Natal Medical School, started a breast milk bank with the iThhemba Lethu organization. Anna's dream began when, Musa, a very ill and malnourished baby was admitted to IThemba Lethu. Anna persuaded a friend who was breastfeeding her own baby to express a little extra milk for a few days.  The result was so amazing. The World Health Organization recently completed a study that found infants who were not fed breast milk in the first two months of life were six times more likely to die than those being breast-fed. The iThemba Lethu breast milk bank was started with funding from the United Nations Children's Fund, which estimates that 15 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Penny Reimer, the director of the milk bank states that each baby requires 1 liter of pasteurized breast milk a day. Mrs. Youse's donation equals nearly 30 liters of milk, or almost 8 gallons. I had reservations about breast-feeding, said Mrs. Youse. "I am a pharmaceutical sales representative and didn't think it would fit in my busy schedule, and my mother didn't breast-feed me". In the '70s advertising for baby formula implied it was superior to anything the human body could create. Mrs. Youse's husband, Jeremy, a 26-year-old medical student, was seeing firsthand the benefits of breast-feeding a baby during his obstetrics and gynecology rotation. He and Jill's grandmother, Mildred Early, persuaded her to breast-feed. When Jill discovered iThemba Lethu, Grandma Early became the first donor of $1,000 toward Mrs. Youse's own not-for-profit organization, the International Breast Milk Project. Jill hopes her organization might one day supply what she calls "liquid gold" to milk banks around the world. According to iThembu Lethu's Web site, Breast milk, contains cells and antibodies that are active in fighting infection along with fatty acids not found in infant formulas that are important for brain development and other body processes. The American Academy of Pediatrics also advocates breast milk as the optimal form of nutrition for infants. Eventually, Mrs.Youse's organization will need financial support to ship the milk around the world but also will need milk to ship. A mother's breast milk production responds to a baby's demand, said Youse's lactation consultant, Patt Stewart, a RN and IBCLC. Stewart said. By doing extra pumping, the mother can trick her body into producing more milk. "A mom could increase the number of times she pumps a day while still nursing her baby. That can help increase milk production. " Mrs. Youse's next goal is to personally take a second shipment of breast milk to South Africa this summer. "That is one of my dreams," she said. "To give those HIV orphans hugs and kisses this summer and meet Penny." |
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