TALLAHASSEE, Fla — Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill allowing more availability of mother's milk through a state bank.
SB 1770 authorizes the Agency for Health Care Administration to pay for donor human milk bank services as an optional Medicaid service.
The milk will become available for "an infant who is medically or physically unable to receive maternal breast milk or to breastfeed or whose mother is medically or physically unable to produce maternal breast milk or breastfeed."
The baby must have a documented birth weight of 1,800 grams or less, have a congenital or acquired condition and be at high risk for developing a feeding intolerance, necrotizing enterocolitis, an infection or otherwise have a medical indication for a human milk diet.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), breast milk is the best source of nutrition for most babies. Short and long-term illnesses and diseases can be avoided by drinking breast milk as well.
Florida Sen. Lauren Book has pushed for the change in state law for the past four years, Florida Politics explains.
“For the past four years, I’ve been fighting to ensure that Florida moms and vulnerable babies have the healthiest start possible by having access to safe, sterilized human milk when the mother cannot naturally provide it,” Book said in a statement Wednesday night, according to the media outlet.
“I am so proud we’ve finally made it across the finish line. When babies are born early, at a low birth weight, or with other high-risk factors, donor human milk is, in many respects, a miracle therapy. Now, families will be able to receive donor human milk to feed and heal babies who need it.”
Rep. Fion McFarland sponsored the House version of the bill.
“Protecting small babies is something that should have all of our hearts,” McFarland reportedly said when the bill passed in the Legislature.
The law will go into effect on July 1.
