No one knows exactly why premature babies, especially those who weigh less than three pounds, are so susceptible to deadly intestinal infections. But study after study has shown that breast milk dramatically improves their chances of survival.

For preemies, breast milk is a wonder elixir also shown to reduce blood infections, blindness and readmission to the hospital in the first year of life. It’s packed with mom’s antibodies, which boost premature babies’ immune systems and provide nutrients needed for development.

But mothers can’t always provide enough of this critical liquid on their own. Some may be on medications that could harm their child. Others may have trouble developing an adequate supply before their tiny infant is strong enough to nurse vigorously.

This is where milk banks come in. They collect, test, pasteurize, package and deliver donated milk from mothers who have extra to give.


Many hospitals in San Diego County have been buying ounce after ounce of donated milk for their tiniest patients, but it has come from as far away as San Jose.

That is expected to change next year as the Division of Neonatology at UC San Diego creates the region’s first breast-milk bank with the help of a financial gift from local couple Hannah and Zachary Johnson.

Having crewed on collegiate rowing teams, Hannah Johnson said she and her husband learned the value of nutrition and its connection to delivering the best possible performance. Though her son was not born premature and did not require milk from a bank, Johnson said she wanted to find a project that would have lasting impact on children. Helping at-risk newborns avoid disease in their first few weeks of life had the promise of lifelong benefits she was seeking.

“Nutrition has definitely always been my passion. I’m a busybody, and I am always looking for something more to do,” Johnson said.


She had no problem finding willing participants in Dr. Lisa Stellwagen, lactation director for the university’s Supporting Premature Infant Nutrition Program, and Dr. Jae Kim, the program’s medical director.

Both have contributed to the growing knowledge base about breast milk’s benefits for preterm babies, and both said they have wanted to create a local breast-milk bank for years. Funding was always the sticking point.

The Johnsons, who asked that the amount of their gift remain private, were just the people to push the project from idea to implementation.

Stellwagen said a big part of the bank will be working with local hospitals and other health-care providers to create a collection infrastructure that allows women to donate their milk without having to drive too far out of their way. Talks are also underway with the San Diego Blood Bank to seamlessly provide blood tests required of each donor to rule out infectious diseases.


And then, there is the challenge of raising awareness about the opportunity to donate.

“We need to get that message out so that women aren’t dumping their milk out when they don’t need it anymore,” Stellwagen said.

At least initially, the San Diego breast-milk bank will not do its own processing. All collected milk will be shipped in coolers to the Mother’s Milk Bank in San Jose, which has already invested in the necessary processing equipment.

“They do a great job, they’re interested in partnering with us and they have the extra capacity, so we think it’s going to be a great collaboration,” Stellwagen said.


Once the milk arrives back at local hospitals — at the cost of about $4 per ounce — it will be fortified with additional nutrients, a task that each hospital will typically handle on its own.

Kim, the premature infant program’s medical director, said the use of donated milk has been around for decades but did not really take off for babies in neonatal intensive care units until adequate fortification methods were developed. Babies born before their due dates, he explained, will not get enough of what they need from breast milk alone.

“A preterm baby’s growth rate is far faster than a term baby’s,” Kim said. “They add over 20 grams of weight per day for every kilo of body weight. I tell my parents that’s like an adult needing to gain three pounds per day.”

Fortification has been a controversial point of entry for for-profit milk banks, which, according to a recent piece by California Healthline, charge up to $180 per ounce after adding nutrients to breast milk they buy from mothers. The industry has recently come under criticism for paying women to donate, a practice that generated publicity in Detroit in 2014 with accusations that a program bought from moms whose own babies needed every ounce.


Stellwagen said the San Diego program will not accept any donations from women within three months after they have given birth to avoid similar issues.

“We want to be very cautious that we’re never having a mother donate milk that might be needed by their own baby,” Stellwagen said.

Breast milk, which is often collected using special pumps, is good in a normal freezer for up to six months and in a deep freeze, which stores food at minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit, for up to one year.

It will take about a year for the local program to get up and running. In the meantime, mothers who want to donate their breast milk can contact the San Jose program. Call (877) 375-6645 or email donate@mothersmilk.org for more information.


paul.sisson@sduniountribune.com

(619) 293-1850

@paulsisson