How breast milk banks could avert the next formula crisis
Brazil has the world's leading breast milk donation program—and experts say there's a lot we can learn to help women and infants everywhere.
Rio de JaneiroFive days after the early delivery of her baby last month at a municipal hospital, Talita Alves Araújo Lourenço sat in a chair while a nurse helped her express breast milk into a glass jar.
Araújo, 20, had given birth at 32 weeks; she had known early delivery was likely because she had been diagnosed with preeclampsia. At first, her baby could only drink her milk through a tube, but even after developing the strength and coordination to feed from her breast, Araújo was producing too much. The nurse was helping her to empty her breasts so they would feel more comfortable and to donate the extra milk.
“To know that my milk could be saving someone is very important to me,”
