Prolacta Bioscience Celebrates Prematurity Awareness Month by Recognizing Breast Milk Donors for Their Contributions to Premature Infants in the NICU

Breast Milk Donations Have Enabled Prolacta to Serve More Than 70,000 Premature and Critically Ill Babies Globally

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Nov 09, 2021, 09:03 ET

DUARTE, Calif., Nov. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Prolacta Bioscience®, the world's leading hospital provider of 100% human milk-based nutritional products for premature and critically ill infants, celebrates Prematurity Awareness Month by extending its gratitude to the committed donors who play an integral role in providing essential nutrition for these infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Robyn Holder, mother of two and Prolacta breast milk donor who has donated just under 48,000 ounces to help premature and critically ill infants.

"We extend our sincere gratitude to everyone involved in helping NICU babies and their families, especially our donors," said Scott Elster, CEO of Prolacta. "We couldn't help these infants without the time and effort donors put into carefully collecting, freezing, and shipping their milk to help us improve the lives of fragile babies. We commend you, we thank you, and we are honored to work with you."

Prolacta's breast milk donors' time, dedication, and effort in pumping, storing, and shipping their excess breast milk has allowed Prolacta to serve more than 70,000 premature and critically ill babies globally with its 100% breast milk-based products that are clinically shown to improve the health of premature infants and reduce the common complications of prematurity.^1-5

"When I found myself with a large oversupply of breast milk, I looked into donation and was so inspired by stories about babies whose lives were saved thanks to Prolacta's breast milk nutritional products in the NICU that I decided to become a donor," said Robyn Holder, mother of two and a Prolacta breast milk donor. "In my three years, I donated just under 48,000 ounces, surpassing my goal of 40,000! The most rewarding aspect of donating was the ability to help fragile, sick babies. I had more milk than I needed for my babies, and it was heartwarming knowing that my excess milk could help premature infants in need."

Prolacta's donors have access to a team of specialists who are available to answer questions and assist every step of the way throughout the donor qualification and donation process. This team of Certified Lactation Educators are also available to provide donors breastfeeding tips and best practices, expressing and pumping support, milk storage guidance, and cooler packing instructions. Donors are also offered access to an engaged donor community Facebook group for ongoing peer-to-peer support throughout their donor journey.

"Prolacta's breast milk donors make a lasting impact on the lives of critically ill and premature infants and their families," said Dr. Melinda Elliott, chief medical officer of Prolacta. "Their donations help Prolacta provide hospitals with the world's first nutritional fortifiers made exclusively from donor breast milk and have allowed us to improve the standard of care globally, getting premature infants healthy and home from the NICU sooner."^1-5

Prolacta offers programs for women to donate their excess breast milk to critically ill and premature infants through two milk banks, Tiny Treasures, where donors are compensated $1 per ounce, and Helping Hands, where donors may choose to contribute $1 per ounce to the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. For the charitable programs, Prolacta provides eligible donors with a $300 stipend for breast pumping supplies and other useful items. Thanks to the generosity of breast milk donors across the country, Prolacta has donated over $1.7 million to Susan G. Komen since 2010.

To learn more about becoming a Prolacta donor, visit Prolacta.com/donors here, or email [email protected].

About Prolacta Bioscience
Prolacta Bioscience Inc.® is a privately held, global life sciences company dedicated to Advancing the Science of Human Milk® to improve the health of premature and critically ill infants. Prolacta's 100% human milk-based nutritional products have demonstrated, in more than 20 peer-reviewed studies, to improve health and reduce the most serious complications of prematurity. More than 70,000 premature infants have benefited from Prolacta's nutritional products worldwide to date.⁶ Established in 1999, Prolacta is the world's leading provider of human milk-based nutritional products for hospital use and is also exploring the therapeutic potential of human milk across a wide spectrum of diseases. Prolacta maintains the industry's strictest quality and safety standards for screening, testing, and processing donor milk. Operating the world's first pharmaceutical-grade human milk processing facilities, Prolacta uses vat pasteurization and a patented, U.S. Food and Drug Administration-reviewed manufacturing process to ensure pathogen inactivation while protecting the nutritional bioactivity of its human milk-based products. Prolacta is headquartered in Duarte, California, and can be found online at www.prolacta.com, on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Loren Kosmont
[email protected]
310-721-9444

References

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Cristofalo EA, Schanler RJ, Blanco CL, et al. Randomized trial of exclusive human milk versus preterm formula diets in extremely premature infants. J Pediatr. 2013;163(6):1592-1595. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2013.07.011
Sullivan S, Schanler RJ, Kim JH, et al. An exclusively human milk-based diet is associated with a lower rate of necrotizing enterocolitis than a diet of human milk and bovine milk-based products. J Pediatr. 2010;156(4):562-567. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.10.040
Estimated number of premature infants fed Prolacta's products from January 2007 to May 2021; data on file.