Techie mom brings together breast milk donors, gives hungry premature babies new lease of life

Coimbatore: Roopa Selvanayaki Senthilnathan, a software engineer employed in Tidel Park here, had launched Amirtham, an online forum that promotes breast milk donation, in November 2016. Now, the group has over 1,100 members spread across Coimbatore, Tirupur and the Nilgiris.

A 29-year-old BE graduate from Avinashi in Tirupur district, Roopa is the mother of Ashvika, a toddler.

“I came to know about the importance of breast milk when I was pregnant and learned that thousands of premature babies were deprived of this elixir of life. I wanted to help them and started a WhatsApp group - Amirtham. Now, there are nine groups that have pregnant women and breast milk donors as members. We are also creating awareness about breast milk donation and pregnancy care,” she told TOI.

Thanks to Amirtham, premature babies at the neonatal intensive care unit of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) now have access to breast milk. “Members of our group collect their milk and store in their refrigerators. A team collects it in the last week of every month and take it to the neonatal intensive care unit, where doctors pasteurize the milk. It is then tested at the microbial lab before fed to the babies,” said Roopa. “Breast milk is essential for the development of the immune system. So, new mothers, who have excess milk, should come forward to donate some to save premature babies.”

However, there are still a lot of social taboos associated with milk donation, said R Kalaivani, mother of a 14-month-old girl, who has been donating breast milk for the last 11 months. “Initially, my family and in-laws were reluctant. It took some time to educate them about the plight of premature babies. Now, my family members are creating awareness about milk donation.”