Mum gives back to breast milk donor program amid grief

Hannah Topp lost her identical twin girls, Harriet and Matilda, when they were only three days old due to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, a condition that stunted Harriet's lung development. The grief of losing a baby was compounded by the joy of becoming a new parent to another baby in intensive care. Unable to breastfeed her vulnerable babies, Hannah discovered a breast milk donor program which had become a lifeline for premature and sick infants.

Since its inception in 2018, the Australian Red Cross donor milk service has provided 24,000 litres of breast milk nationwide, with significant expansion planned to include more hospitals. The program, supported by the NSW government, aims to provide babies with a reliable and safe source of pasteurised donor human milk, as recommended by the World Health Organization.

Hannah, who had an oversupply of breast milk, now hopes to extend the same gift to other babies in need.