Ballito prem baby needs lifesaving breast milk donations
A Ballito family is appealing to the community for breast milk donations for their 3-week-prem baby, Tayla Grace
Three weeks ago, a Ballito family welcomed their bundle of joy, Tayla Grace Christie Kruger into the world much earlier than expected.
Tayla was born at only 31 weeks and two days and weighed a meagre 995 grams when she greeted her parents, Elrize and Jason for the first time.
After suffering a placenta failure during her pregnancy, Tayla stopped growing at just 27 weeks and Elrize had no choice but to go under the knife.
Tayla, who has been in NICU at Netcare Alberlito Hospital since June 10, is making slow progress, however she is in desperate need of breast milk.
With Elrize unable to breastfeed, and formula not being an option as it does not contain sufficient vitamins, minerals and protein for Tayla in her fragile state, the family appealed to the community for breast milk donors.
“The doctors say she is too little to digest formula, it will kill her” said Elrize.
The family took to Facebook to share their story and in just a few days it reached hundreds of people.
But with Tayla taking in up to 7mls of breast milk every hour, it became clear that more donors were needed.
How to donate
New moms wanting to donate must print and complete the form available HERE.
Once this has been done, an HIV screening within the last three weeks is needed.
“The easiest option for HIV screening is to go to your nearest Dischem Pharmacy. It’s a finger prick test and the results take 15 minutes,” said Kruger.
“The cost is R66 and I am happy to reimburse.”
Donor moms can then either deliver the completed form, HIV test results and donor milk directly to Elrize who will have it transported to iThemba Lethu Breastmilk Bank for pasteurizing, or they can take the above mentioned directly through to the bank themselves.
Donations are to be marked ‘for baby Christie, Alberlito Hospital’.
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