You're Pasteurizing What Now?

This week my rotation was at the Mother's Milk Bank of Iowa. The Milk Bank just celebrated its 10th birthday at the beginning of this month, and everyone who works there is super excited about it. It's an amazing experience, and not something that is "typical" in a dietetic internship, since there are only 12 milk banks in the U.S. I consider myself to be pretty lucky to be helping out there for even a few days.

Let me tell you guys a little bit about how the Milk Bank works. Milk is donated from mothers all across the state who are producing an excess of milk after their own babies are born. For some women, this means just producing a ton of milk, and sadly for others, it means that their baby died at birth, but they are still producing milk. We learned that one of the donors produces over 40 ounces per day! She feeds her own baby, and still donates GALLONS at pick up time. Bless her heart!!

Those who want to be donors must go through a screening process. There are three steps to the screen: verbal, written, and a blood test. The verbal and written screens are very similar to a screen you would take before donating blood. The potential donor can't take any medication, except for the occasional tylenol. Basically, these screens are to prevent any diseases from spreading from the milk to the baby. After she passes, she can drop off her donations at a location convenient for her. Pick ups occur at "depots" all around the state--from Sioux City all the way to the brand new one in Oscaloosa. There are 14 depots in total, and are spread out throughout the state. The only area that doesn't have a depot is the southwest part of the state, but it's in the works!

After the milk is donated, it is distributed to babies who need it most. These include preemies, kids in the NICU, babies that aren't tolerating formula, etc. Some insurance plans cover this treatment, since it really is like medicine for the little guys.

I will be the first to admit that I was (and still am) super duper excited about this rotation. I got to go with another intern (usually we have to go by ourselves) and it just so happens that this other intern is my workout buddy, my Packer game partner...we're pretty much inseparable during the week. The only we reason we separate is when she has to leave for the weekend to visit her boyfriend. So...having her here with me made it that much more awesome.

PLUS, we got really geeky about what we were doing, meaning that we took a zillion pictures of the process. I'll call these series of photographs, "Amy's Day at the Milk Bank".

Here's how the pasteurization process works:

First, you grab a bunch of donor milk from the freezer. It's best if you grab a variety of donors (at least 10 different ones!) so the milk has the antibodies, vitamins, minerals, etc. from different people. That's when the best nutrition happens!

All the milk is pooled into these Erlenmeyer flasks. Each flask should contain at least three different donors' milk. The pooling process ensures that each flask is combined into the others.

Milk is then poured into these little bottles. They are filled to exactly 100 ml because Human Milk Fortifier is added, and the "recipe" calls for 100 ml breast milk. The fortifier adds protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and minerals that might be missing from the breast milk for one reason or another.

Here is a picture of Amy pouring milk into the bottles...a process that can be difficult when the milk is still frozen!

Each bottle must be sealed once it is capped. This is achieved by radio frequency (with that cool little wand). I should mention that you do have to use your hands...Amy just wanted to show off her gloves.

After all the bottles are capped, they are put into a water bath for 30 minutes at 62.5 degrees C. They are cooled rapidly in ice for 20 minutes, and then placed back in the freezer. And viola! That's it! Isn't it neat!?