A mother’s care begins with her own child, but her instinct to nurture knows no distance. Nikita Prajapati (33) travelled more than 250 km from Ahmedabad to the Diamond City to give something more precious to a newborn than a gem — her own milk.The mother of a seven-month-old daughter came by train for a human milk donation camp organised for New Civil Hospital in Surat on Sept 17. The camp collected around 5,380 ml for infants, many of whom were from socially and financially disadvantaged families.For Prajapati, the decision was rooted in her own experience after childbirth. “I know how important a mother’s milk is for a child, and I also know what a mother goes through when she is unable to feed her baby. I have been in that situation myself,” she said.She learned about the Surat camp through social media. She had already been looking for an opportunity to donate in Ahmedabad but had not found one. “I don’t know if such breast milk donation camps are organised in Ahmedabad. But as soon as I learned about the one in Surat, I decided to come,” she said.Originally from Mumbai and now settled in Ahmedabad, Prajapati said the long journey did not seem difficult when she knew where the milk would go. “There is a sense of satisfaction in knowing that even a little milk can help another child. If a mother has more than her baby needs, she can share the surplus,” she said. Her husband serves in the armed forces, and the family, it seems, understands service in more ways than one.Breast milk, doctors say, is especially valuable for premature, low-birth-weight and sick newborns, supporting both nutrition and immunity when their own mothers cannot provide enough.Dr Ketan Bharadva, coordinator of the camp organised by Surat Paediatric Association, said Prajapati’s journey made her stand out. “Mothers like her are an inspiration because they understand the need and are willing to go that extra distance for children they do not know,” he said. “For an infant who needs it, donated human milk can be as vital as donated blood.”
