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Press Release 2nd Annual Miracle Milk Stroll

Miracle Milk Stroll 2015 Press

Press Release 2nd Annual Miracle Milk Stroll

The Best for Babes® Foundation announces their second annual nationwide Miracle MilkTM Stroll. ​On May 2nd 2015, ​thousands of parents, friends, families, and community members, will gather at over 100 different locations­­ parks and malls across the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico­­ to raise funds and awareness for human milk to help save the lives of 500 premature infants annually​ from Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) – and help prevent 5000 babies each year​ from contracting this often deadly and painful disease.

Feeding fragile and compromised babies human milk – whether from the mother or by donor — has been shown to reduce the risk of NEC by 79%.​NEC is an excruciating bowel inflammation that can require multiple surgeries to remove dead tissue, may result in organ failure, months­long neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stays, and can cost between $200,000 to over $1,000,000 to treat per case. ​Lifelong complications and treatment may also ensue. The anguish it causes parents is indescribable​.

In its most recent policy statement on breastfeeding and human milk, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states unequivocally that “the potent benefits of human milk are such that all preterm infants should receive human milk… If mother’s own milk is unavailable despite significant lactation support, pasteurized donor milk should be used.” PEDIATRICS Vol. 129 No. 3 March 1, 2012, pp. e827 ­e841.

“The AAP’s call for all preterm babies to have pasteurized donor milk when mother’s own milk is unavailable is being ignored.​ 60% of the nation’s NICUs do not use donor milk,” says Jennifer Canvasser, whose son died two years ago year from NEC and is the founder of NECSociety, a primary partner of the event. “It’s a tragedy that more parents, health care providers, medical directors and hospital administrators don’t know about donor milk’s existence, accessibility, safety and life­saving powers for babies in the NICU.”

“Our goal with this event is to create a nationwide consumer ­driven platform to raise awareness, funds and milk donations to help make human and donor milk the standard of care in NICUs everywhere, so we can help reduce suffering and deaths” says Best for Babes Co-­Founder Danielle Rigg. “Human Milk Saves Lives. We need more solutions to help more moms get more Miracle MilkTM to more fragile babies.”

Currently, the Stroll has more than 110 sites across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, with more on the way. Groups are being led by local volunteers and will gather casually in common spaces to socialize, stroll, and celebrate the human milk cause. Registration requires a donation, and anyone can make a donation even if they cannot attend. The purchase of the official event Miracle MilkTM T­-shirt is optional.

Proceeds benefit Best for Babes and its partners NECSociety and La Leche League International and will be used to fund education for parents, health care providers, medical directors and hospital administrators about the critical role of human milk and donor milk in a premature, fragile or compromised infant’s diet. The event is being generously sponsored by PJ’s Comfort breast pump maker Limerick.

To register, donate, or learn more, visit: http://www.bestforbabes.org/miracle­milk­stroll.

Best for Babes is the only mainstream, independent non­profit dedicated to changing the cultural perception of breastfeeding and to removing the barriers—the Breastfeeding Booby Traps® – that prevent millions of moms annually from realizing their personal breastfeeding goals.

Best for Babes is harnessing the power of moms, celebrities, companies, advertising, the media and the medical community to build a true cause that can put pressure on the barriers, not moms, through education, advocacy and fitness fundraising campaigns. We are raising awareness of the power of human milk (whether via breastfeeding or donated milk) as both prevention and treatment for pandemic diseases.