The 2009 GotBreastPump.com™ Breast Pump Challenge
Those of us who use breast pumps or are breastfeeding our babies know the great gift that breastmilk provides to our sweet babies, but now that our precious ones have benefited from breastfeeding or breast pumps, how can we help others in need?
Now that your baby has become healthy and beautiful, it is time to give to those families in need.
The Got Breast Pump™ Campaign will assist these needy families by donating breast pumps to these wonderful parents, so that there miraculous babies can benefit from much needed breast milk from their mothers.
It’s easy!
Every day 1 in 8 babies born in the U.S. arrives too soon. Premature birth can happen to any pregnant woman, and no one knows why. The breastmilk of a mother of a premature baby is different from that of a mother of a full term baby and is designed to meet her baby’s needs at his specific stage of development.
Research shows unequivocally that human milk is the best food for human babies. Human milk is especially critical for premature and sick infants, who are at 10-fold greater risk for acquiring devastating intestinal infections if they are fed formula instead of human milk.
Neonatologists are most concerned about avoiding necrotizing entercolits (NEC), a disease that attacks the intestinal lining and eventually damages or destroys it, requiring emergency surgery to repair. Emergency surgery on a two-pound infant is both difficult and dangerous in itself. Mother’s milk makes a huge difference in how well these little babies will do after birth because it fights infection while providing nutrition.
1.5% of premature infants fed mother’s milk acquire NEC
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10-17 % of premature infants fed formula acquire this disease
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Of those babies who acquire NEC, up to 62% die from it
If there is no congenital problem and the baby was merely born too early, doctors will focus on keeping the infant healthy while waiting for the baby to grow big enough to go home. Chances are very good that the child will simply outgrow prematurity and have no lasting adverse health effects.
References
Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin - FAQ . 2003. 20 July 2005 < http://www.mmbaustin.org/faq.htm />.
March of Dimes . 2005. 20 July 2005 <http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/>.
My name is Wendy, and I began this website as a place to have one central location for breast pumping and feeding babies. I pumped breast milk for my daughter for over a year and during that year looked around on hundreds of websites to get the information that I needed. Since then, the website has grown and there is now tons of information and great products here at GotBreastPump.com. Thanks for stopping by. 
