A UNICEF-funded milk bank in Poland is providing crucial nutritional care to premature babies born to Ukrainian mothers who have found refuge in the country. Some of the women have suffered trauma from the conflict.
Premature Ukrainian War Babies Receive Donated Breast Milk In Poland
Ukrainian refugee mother Yevhenia Loshkarova, 37, holds her son Denis in Konstancin Jeziorna, Poland. The baby weighed a perilous 1.5 kilograms at birth. Traumatized by war, Loshkarova gave birth prematurely via Caesarean section and was unable to breastfeed him.
A UNICEF-funded milk bank in Poland set up for mothers in crisis came to Loshkarova's rescue last September. It gave her son access to milk and provided her with psychological support and lactation advice.
Karolina Dabiak, a Polish 37-year-old former health and safety worker, is one of the mothers who donated their milk to the milk bank where Loshkarova's baby was fed. She realized she was producing more milk than her infant son needed.
“What is most important for me is helping the little people who come into this world in such difficult circumstances -- premature babies,” Dabiak said.
Loshkarova, who was found unconscious by police in her Warsaw apartment during her seventh month of pregnancy after a friend raised the alarm, said she is deeply grateful for the UN-backed milk bank.
“It is such a great help both for the baby's health and for the psychological comfort of the mother. When a baby is born prematurely, it is always very stressful, because something has gone wrong,” she said.
Aleksandra Molas, 29, a midwife and biologist, examines bottles of breast milk donated by mothers at the Human Milk Bank laboratory at the Holy Family Specialist Hospital in Warsaw.
With the help of UNICEF’s program, more than 300 mothers -- about 20 percent of whom are from Ukraine -- benefit every month from various services at 10 hospitals hosting milk banks in Poland.
Another Ukrainian woman helped by the program is Olena Liubimova, 36, and her prematurely born son, Oleg, at the intensive care unit of the University Hospital in Zielona Gora, Poland.
Doctors in Ukraine advised Liubimova to terminate her pregnancy because of uterine fibroids she had developed due to stress. She was warned the child might not survive and her life could also in be danger.
Doctors in Ukraine advised Liubimova to terminate her pregnancy because of uterine fibroids she had developed due to stress. She was warned the child might not survive and her life could also in be danger.
The milk bank tube-fed Oleg with milk until Liubimova was able to breastfeed him. She has since benefited from the UNICEF program's advanced perinatal care.