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Introduction: Background: Breast milk is the perfect food and uniquely superior to, artificial baby milk. Giving a child breast milk from another woman is not a newer concept; wet nursing was a fairly common practice a few decades ago. Human milk banks are services which collect, screen, process and distribute donated breast milk. Current research evidences suggest that pasteurized donor human milk can provide many of the components and eliminate the risk of transmission of infectious agents. Method: Quantitative research approach was adopted to assess the knowledge on Human Milk Banking; a structured knowledge questionnaire was given to100 antenatal mothers. The study was conducted at Justice K.S Hegde charitable Hospital. Descriptive survey design was adopted to accomplish the objectives. Results: Findings revealed that 52% of mothers had good knowledge and remaining mothers had an average knowledge. The 'p' value of age with regards to knowledge on human milk banking is 0.099, whereas the 'p' value of parity is 0.718. Meanwhile the 'p' value of family is 0.213 and that of religion is 0.428. For education, occupation, income and any previous exposure with human milk banking the 'p' values were 0.284, 0.082, 0.104 and 0.750 respectively. The above results shows that for all the demographic characteristics, the 'p' value is >0.05. Hence it was found that there was no significant association between knowledge of antenatal mothers with selected demographic variables. Conclusion: Providing knowledge to antenatal mothers on human milk banking serve as an investment for the future needs. The nurse practitioner has a primary responsibility of enhancing the knowledge and developing positive attitude, towards utilization of human milk banking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Known interventions like breastfeeding and kangaroo mother care (KMC) can avert a large share of infant deaths. Mother Baby Friendly Initiative Plus (MBFI+) is an integrated approach to ensure exclusive human milk diet through promotion of breastfeeding, KMC, and provision of donor human milk (DHM) to vulnerable neonates lacking mothers' own milk., Materials and Methods: Qualitative research was conducted among 56 service recipients including mothers and key influencers and 9 service providers to understand their knowledge, perceptions, and practices on breastfeeding, KMC, DHM, and human milk banks (HMBs) in 2 facilities in India, one with and another without an operational HMB. This article presents the findings on breastfeeding and KMC., Results: Nearly all mothers mentioned that antenatal visits lacked information on breastfeeding. Most were unaware of the recommended duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Most parents knew about the benefits of breast milk and colostrum. Limited staff and privacy in facilities resulted in inadequate breastfeeding and milk expression support to mothers, who found feeding of preterm and low-birth-weight babies challenging. Mothers shared challenges in breastfeeding at home, such as low family support and privacy and burden of household chores. Only those mothers who practiced KMC were aware of its benefits. Few service providers and recipients were comfortable with the practice of wet nursing in the absence of breastfeeding., Conclusions: MBFI+ is a promising approach to strengthen breastfeeding and KMC. Quality counseling on breastfeeding and milk expression from antenatal period, increasing awareness and training on KMC for mothers, improving infrastructure, addressing staff shortage, and building capacities of hospital staff on MBFI+ are needed.

Background: Scaling-up human milk banks (HMBs) is a promising solution for saving vulnerable newborns. Exploring perceptions and practices on donor human milk (DHM) and HMBs is essential to strengthen and scale-up an integrated HMB system resting on a model called the "Mother Baby Friendly Initiative Plus" (MBFI+), which includes promoting breastfeeding, encouraging kangaroo mother care, and providing safe DHM to vulnerable babies without access to mother's own milk., Materials and Methods: A qualitative research was conducted among 56 service recipients including mothers and key influencers and 9 service providers to understand their perceptions and practices on DHM and HMBs., Results: Service providers opined that DHM is safe and lifesaving for vulnerable babies. Challenges shared were limited supply of DHM because of low awareness on milk donation, shortage of trained staff, and risk of milk contamination. They stated that although most mothers were comfortable in donating milk, few were reluctant to donate milk as they feared shortage of milk for their own babies, or milk expression may cause weakness. Recipient mothers accepted use of DHM as per facility norms but had concerns about donor mothers' health and hygiene and measures for ensuring milk safety. Most grandmothers were resistant toward donating or receiving DHM for their grandchildren. Many fathers were comfortable with donating once they knew it is lifesaving and did not compromise supply for their babies. Service providers shared opportunities for scale-up, like improving awareness and infrastructure, lactation counseling by skilled personnel, supportive hospital environment, and establishing HMBs in every city and district., Conclusions: Human milk banking should be strengthened as part of the MBFI+ model. For this, behavior change communication targeted at mothers and influencers about breastfeeding and HMB from the antenatal period, capacity-building among service providers, and government ownership is necessary.