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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Rural mothers whose premature babies are in intensive care will be able to get their breast milk delivered to their babies, thanks to a $1.9 million, three-year grant, say authorities in the Mississippi Delta.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is providing the money to the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, based in Hernando, for a program called "Right! From the Start."
Research has found that babies fed breast milk are less likely to get infections, and breast-fed preemies are generally healthier, Program director Sannie Snell told The Commercial Appeal (http://bit.ly/1XH1VaM ).
Snell says they hope to deliver breast milk two or three times a week from Bolivar, Coahoma, Leflore, Sunflower and Washington counties to the neonatal ICU at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
"We're trying to develop a rural model," said Snell, a former vice president at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, said.
"We did this at the Med, but that was an urban model," Snell said. "It's very different when the mothers live many miles away from where their infants are hospitalized."
Most of the mothers and infants affected are disadvantaged and African-American, Snell said. The breast-feeding rate is low anyway in the African-American community, she said, so working with families to increase the rate, then making sure the milk gets to the babies in the hospital and continues once they're home is all key to improving premature survival rates.
The program's goal, according to Snell, is to provide support to ensure breast-feeding continues for at least 6 to 12 months.
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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com
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