The South West’s first human milk bank has been officially opened at Southmead Hospital thanks to over £70,000 of donations to the Precious Drops appeal.

The money has been used to create the milk bank at Southmead’s maternity unit which will supply donor breast milk to premature babies in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. As the milk bank develops, the aim is supply donor milk to other units across the South West.

Local people and businesses have raised the money to create the milk bank through the Precious Drops Campaign which was launched in May 2008. This has raised just under £75,000.

The donor milk will be collected from healthy, screened mums who have a plentiful supply and, after testing and heat treatment, will be given to premature babies whose own mothers are not able to produce their own milk.

Marion Copeland, Infant Feeding Midwife at Southmead Hospital, said: “This really is a fantastic day. Thank you to everyone who raised money for the Precious Drops Campaign. It is great to see a milk bank up-and-running again at Southmead Hospital.

“Breast milk is the natural and best source of nutrition for human babies.

“It can be life-saving for sick and preterm babies but sometimes a mother is ill or unable to provide milk for her baby.

“Donor milk can be a vital step to giving that baby a healthy start. Milk banking occurs all over the world - it reinforces the importance of having breast milk available for every baby, and encourages mothers to persevere if breast-feeding is difficult.

A range of fundraising events were held to raise the funds including a charity zip wire, dragon boat event, ice skating and a team which competed in the Bristol 10k.