Qsomething like 35,338 baby bottles equal to 4,240 liters of breast milk collected from 317 donor mothers. These are the numbers of the donated breast milk bank in Bologna, Feed me, which celebrates its first 10 years of life. And she celebrates them with a photo exhibition. A series of photos to tell 10 stories of children born before term, of how they were and how they are today.
The project (non-profit!) was born in 2012 from the collaboration between the Policlinico di Sant’Orsola and Granarolo with the participation of Cubthe Bologna association of parents of preterm babies.
The Donated Milk Bank for Pre-Term Babies
Feed me selects the donor mothers, a specialized Granarolo technician collect their milk directly at homewithout any expense for them and no inconvenience, pasteurizes it and stores it in conditions of maximum safety in the Donated Human Milk Bank.
Here the bottles are sealed and pasteurized to make them safe for the newborns who will receive them, and subsequently stored in special refrigerators. Each passage of the bottles is traced: from when they are delivered, empty and sterile, to the donor’s homes, until they arrive at the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of the hospitals that have requested them (the milk of the Bolognese mothers today, however, also reaches the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna , of the Policlinico of Ferrara and of the Hospital of Parma). The Cucciolo Association enlists donor mothers, based on the criteria established with the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic, providing them with all the information and useful tools for collecting and storing milk. In numbers? Since the start of the project they have been collected 35,338 baby bottlesequivalent to 4,240 liters of breast milk (considering 120ml / bottle), and 317 donor mothers were involved.
When the milk reaches a small patient hospitalized in one of the receiving neonatal intensive care units, the donor mother receives a text message: a small detail but with a great symbolic force.
The benefits of human milk for premature babies
The benefits of human milk are unanimously recognized by many scientific researches, especially for premature babies. However, the mothers of these newborns, often subjected to great physical and psychological stress, do not always have enough milk. Hence the Bologna milk bank (but there are, of course, also in other areas of Italy, such as the Milan milk bank).
The Allattami exhibition
To celebrate the first 10 years of Allattami, the photographic exhibition was set up from 8 to 13 November at the Sala Borsa in Bologna (Piazza del Nettuno 3). There is only one Mom. But sometimes it takes more – 10 years of Breastfeed Mewith the photos taken by Paolo Righi, which tell the story and the path of this supply chain of the common good through the faces of some girls and boys who have benefited from precious mother’s milkflanked by the people who bring the virtuous galaxy of Allattami to life every day.
The exhibition will be re-proposed in the Sala Borsa during the Christmas holidays (from December 19th to January 9th). On Saturday 12 November, always in the Sala Borsa, the party for the 10 years of Allattami will be held, which will see the involvement of families and children who have taken the donated milk, and an acknowledgment for the many donor mothers who over the years have contributed to the project. On the occasion of this celebration, the midwives of the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic will also be present to provide useful information to all new mothers.
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