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Mercy Milk Donor Program
Babies who are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Mercy Medical Center Redding receive specialized, as well as highly-attentive, care. In order to help them to grow and thrive, if babies are less than 3 pounds, we strive to provide donor milk for those who may not be able to receive milk from their mother. You can help.
If you are a nursing mother that has a milk supply in excess of what your baby needs, you can help other babies and mothers who need it. Mothers of premature babies often can’t produce the amount of milk needed. By donating your breast milk, you can provide potentially life-sustaining benefits to the babies fighting for their lives.
The Mercy Donor Milk Program is operated by Prolacta Bioscience. Prolacta tests and processes all donated milk in order to supply premature babies with an exclusive 100% human milk diet. Donating milk is done in the privacy of your home. Once you are qualified as a donor, Prolacta provides breast milk storage bags as well as shipping coolers with pre-paid shipping labels. Every shipment they receive is cross-matched with that donor's DNA profile, screened for bacteria, and tested for drugs of abuse and other substances. It is then pasteurized, labeled with nutritional value and sold to our NICU.
100% human milk-based diets help to support the developing immune system and provides essential nutrients for extremely premature infants in the NICU.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends the use of human milk for all preterm infants.
Breast milk helps all babies to grow healthy and strong.
Plus babies who receive breast milk achieve healthier weights as they grow.
To get started, visit this webpage.
For more information about the Mercy Donor Milk Program, visit the Prolacta donor milk program.