The Prime Minister has today, 20 February, recognised Dr Natalie Shenker and Gillian Weaver, from Hertfordshire, for founding the Hearts Milk Bank. The statement out from the Prime Minister’s office can be read here! Natalie and Gillian are the latest recipients of the Points of Light award, which recognises outstanding volunteers who are making a change […]
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When I had my first daughter, I spent the first two weeks asking anyone and everyone who came to the flat to meet her why they had not told me it would be like this. I had had a pretty difficult birth, a long -labour, a rushed, frightening end, forceps, tearing and haemorrhage. I also […]
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We have had an incredible 2018, launching in the summer, and already supporting scores of babies and families to access screened donor milk when mother’s milk is not available. We are hearing stories every day of the impact this is making, and they are incredible. We will be sharing more of these in 2019 as […]
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Writing in this week’s British Medical Journal, Dr Chris van Tulleken examines the links between medical education and the formula industry. Milk banks are increasingly on the front line of the rising wave of cow milk protein allergy (CMPA). Increasing numbers of mothers contact the Hearts Milk Bank each week wanting to donate stored milk they have been advised […]
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Literally! Read a short piece about donor milk use in this week’s Positive News here. There is a vicious circle when it comes to awareness, suggests Dr Natalie Shenker, who co-founded The Hearts Milk Bank in 2017. “If people don’t know about milk banking, they don’t ask for it. If no one’s asking for […]
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As scientific techniques advance, our understanding of human milk is becoming more detailed. The Dispatches documentary on Channel 4 in the summer of 2018 helped highlight many of the barriers women in the UK face in breastfeeding their babies, and created an amazing scene to demonstrate the complexity of human milk. 100 volunteers gathered on […]
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The lovely Daisy Rae of SouthonDesigns has created beautiful cards for sale on Etsy for years. As of this week, 40 p from each card sold will be donated straight to the Human Milk Foundation. Browse and order Daisy’s cards here! Daisy wrote to tell us: “I am choosing to support the HMF through my […]
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If you missed it yesterday, you can listen to HMF Cofounder, Natalie Shenker, and Professor Amy Brown from Swansea University talking about the science of human milk and the work of the Human Milk Foundation on Radio 2’s The Jeremy Vine show – the piece starts at around 1305 (after Tom Jones’s Sex Bomb…). All […]
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Donor human milk used to be readily available in every hospital to feed sick babies, or babies whose mothers needed time to establish their own supply. The discovery in the 1980s that HIV could be passed through milk led to donor screening, bacteriological testing and pasteurisation becoming the gold standard of safety. However, this brought […]
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The British Medical Journal, a high-impact medical journal in the UK, commissioned an editorial from Dr Natalie Shenker of the Human Milk Foundation regarding the recent activities of the US administration at the World Health Assembly earlier this year. The editorial, published yesterday here, challenges the lack of independent, non-industry funded medical education, and calls […]
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You can find out more about the amazing work of the Breastfeeding Network here. We are delighted to be in early talks about contributing to the work of the BfN for many years to come.
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“I want to send you many congratulations for creating this wonderful charity, good wishes for the launch event, and even more for future success. I am very sorry that owing to family circumstances I am unable to be with you personally. August 1st is the most important day in the year for breastfeeding globally: August […]
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