the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)<\/a>. The boys were born so early that Canvasser\u2019s milk hadn\u2019t yet come in. Canvasser may have been a first-time mother, but she knew this: her babies weren\u2019t going to receive formula. She believed that milk \u2013 specifically, her milk \u2013 would give them the best start in life.<\/p>\nDoctors told her to try to pump every two hours to get her milk to come in. So every other hour, around the clock, Canvasser assembled the pump in her hospital bed, attached it to her breast, and willed the milk to emerge. Nothing happened. Her long hair went unbrushed; sleep deprivation and fear lined her bright blue eyes with dark circles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really stressful,\u201d she says. \u201cThese little itty bitty guys really needed the nutrition and I was told they would be given formula if my milk did not come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
After two days, during which the boys were given only minimal nutrients through tubes into their veins, Canvasser finally produced a few milky drops. After filling a tiny syringe, husband Noah took the elevator down to the NICU and dabbed his wife\u2019s milk on his sons\u2019 lips. Even after another day there still wasn\u2019t much milk coming, although it was enough for the tiny boys, who, like most preemies, only took a teaspoon at a time. With the children hooked up to a dizzying array of tubes and machines, their parents couldn\u2019t even hold them. Their mother\u2019s milk was their only physical contact.<\/p>\n
In that first, tense, terrifying week, Zachary and Micah\u2019s doctors came to Canvasser with more bad news: her milk wasn\u2019t providing enough nutrition for the twins. The doctors wanted to add a high-calorie fortifier to it to help the boys grow and develop. Canvasser agreed.<\/p>\n
But instead of getting better, the boys began to get worse. They stopped breathing while asleep. They began to have trouble digesting. Canvasser\u2019s worry turned to panic on the cold Friday afternoon of the second week when Micah began spitting up. Things got worse over the weekend. By Sunday morning, his belly had become swollen and he was constantly throwing up. On Sunday afternoon, Micah was rushed to the operating room to have part of his bowel removed. Just two weeks old, he had developed a life-threatening disease called necrotising enterocolitis, which had killed parts of his intestines. The infection was so severe his kidneys began to fail.<\/p>\n
Advances in caring for premature babies and very-low-birthweight infants (defined as weighing less than 1,500 grams at birth, or 3 lb 5 oz) mean more of them survive longer. But this vulnerable group still has a high risk of necrotising enterocolitis. It affects around 1 to 3 per cent of infants in the NICU and 7 per cent of very-low-birthweight infants, and up to one-third of those infected will die. Numerous research studies have shown, however, that an all-human-milk diet for premature infants significantly reduces the risk……<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"