Milk Bank Service appealing for donor mums

The Western Trust Human Milk Bank Service is appealing for more donor mums.

The Milk Bank service is based at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen and is appealing for more donor mums to come forward and help to provide essential donor breast milk for babies in neonatal units in hospitals throughout Ireland as the busy summer period approaches.

Expressing her thanks to all of the milk bank donors, Elizabeth (Liz) Bailie, Human Milk Bank Co-ordinator said: "We are indebted to our donor mums who have continued to provide essential donor breast milk for babies in neonatal units in hospitals throughout Ireland.

"The Human Milk Bank staff are working very hard to ensure this vital service remains available to all our vulnerable premature babies, particularly as we go into the busy Summer months as we know from previous years this can be a time when neonatal units require additional stocks of donor milk.

“In 2021 the Human Milk Bank provided donor milk for 844 premature babies, of which 234 were either a twin or a triplet. So you can see it is essential that we continue to recruit donors at this time. I would appeal to expectant mums to consider becoming a donor and for our donor mums to spread the word about the Human Milk Bank as this is the best way to help us recruit new mums.”

 If you would like to find out more about the Human Milk Bank and becoming a donor please contact the Human Milk Bank on Tel: (028) 68628333 or email [email protected].