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For mothers, feeding their newborns is an exciting, heartwarming experience. But some babies have problems absorbing the milk. When that happened to Yasmine Al-Majdalawi she quickly sought other options. The English teacher found that her six-month-old daughter, Kinda, was crying all the time and not sleeping well. “I didn’t know why she was crying. Every time I would nurse her, she would throw up. Even after six months, when I’d started introducing complementary foods she continued to have problems digesting,” said Yasmine. She tried changing the brand of milk and consulted several doctors to help figure out what was going on with her baby, but nothing was working.
Then Yasmine heard about Isomil at the local Caritas clinic. Caritas is a beneficiary of ANERA‘s In-Kind program. When she told one of the clinic’s doctors, Dr. Hani Al-Amash, about her daughter’s problem, he quickly advised her to switch to the lactose-free milk, Isomil.
Isomil is a soy-based, iron-fortified infant formula with special nutrients found in breast milk. It can be given to children who are intolerant to breast milk or formula milk because of a lactase enzyme deficiency in their bodies.
“This milk is scarcely available in the market and, if found, would cost 50NIS ($14 US) and only feed a child for four days,” explained Dr. Al-Amash. “We safely store the Isomil milk and distribute it according to need from our six mobile clinics. So far we have found 10 cases,” he added.
ANERA has distributed 15,391 cans of Isomil, donated by AmeriCares, to four remote clinics and hospitals in marginalized areas of Gaza. It is the first time ANERA has received this type of milk. Isomil can be given to children from 6-12 months of age.
Since Yasmine started giving the milk to Kinda she noticed gradual changes in her daughter’s health. “She’s now sleeping much better and is spitting up less often.”
In the southern Gazan town of Khan-Younis, feeding two baby girls became a tragic problem when their 27-year-old mother died five months after their birth because of complications from uterus cancer.
Raghad and Deema were being fed UNRWA milk powder but the babies experienced bad reactions. When their aunt noticed the negative affects, she brought them to the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) clinic, where she learned they were lactose intolerant.
“The girls have benefited very much from the switch to Isomil. I was worried about their health because they lost their mother at such a critical time in their lives. I care so much about them and their health,” said their aunt Samia Emish.
PMRS is another beneficiary of ANERA’s In-Kind program. The community-based, volunteer health organization was established in 1979 by a group of Palestinian doctors and health professionals seeking to supplement the decayed and inadequate health care infrastructure in the Palestinian Territories. It is one of the largest Palestinian health NGOs.
