Breast milk bank the Netherlands

The WHO (World Health Organization) and Unicef prefer only breast milk for the newborn baby for at least six months. If the baby cannot be fed from its own mother's breast, one prefers expressed milk from its own mother. The next option is donor milk. Donor milk is expressed milk from another mother (pasteurized or not). It is especially important for a premature baby (premature) that they receive breast milk. But it is precisely mothers of prematurely born children that often, for various reasons, do not produce or produce insufficient milk to be able to feed their child themselves.

The Dutch Mother's Milk Bank was established to enable these children to benefit from the benefits of breast milk as well.

The objective of the Dutch Mother's Milk Bank is to provide donor milk to (prematurely born) children whose mothers produce no or insufficient milk themselves, or whose breast milk cannot be used.

Initially, the donor milk will only be given to premature children (premature babies) who have been admitted to one of the intensive care units for newborns (ICU neonatology). This will only happen when a child participates in the scientific research that is linked to the breast milk bank.

For more information, visit the website of the Amsterdam UMC