Natalie Shenker

Biographic Data

ID7986078
NAMENatalie Shenker
GIVEN NAMESNatalie
FAMILY NAMEShenker
SIGNATURESHENKER N
AFFILIATIONSImperial College London
ORCID0000-0002-8067-1079
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS9
TOTAL CITATIONS0
AUTHOR COUNT9
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2020
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2024
H-INDEX0

  • Receiving screened donor human milk as part of a community‐based lactation support programme reduces parental symptoms of anxiety and depression

    Open AccessAmy Brown, Sam Griffin et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2024

    Infant feeding decisions and maternal mental health are closely tied. Donor human milk (DHM) protects premature infant health and development and can reduce hospital stays. Recent qualitative research has highlighted that having the option for an infant to receive DHM can also support parental wellbeing through reducing concerns about infant health and supporting feeding preferences. However, no quantitative study has examined this relationship. …

  • Disparities in being able to donate human milk impacts upon maternal wellbeing

    Open AccessAmy Brown, Catrin Griffiths et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2024

    Receiving donor human milk for a baby can have a protective effect upon parental wellbeing. A growing body of research also finds that being able to donate milk to a milk bank, particularly after infant loss, can also boost maternal wellbeing through feelings of altruism and purpose. However, most studies are qualitative, with small sample sizes outside the United Kingdom, and often do not include the experiences of those who have been unable to …

  • Donation barriers, enablers, patterns and predictors of milk bank donors in the United States and United Kingdom

    Open AccessBruna Gutierrez dos Santos, Natalie Shenker et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2024

    Pasteurised donor human milk is recommended for very low birthweight infants who do not have access to their mother's milk. Although the use of donor milk continues to increase, little is known about the donation experiences of milk bank donors. We aimed to describe and compare enablers, barriers and patterns of human milk donation and identify factors predicting donation volume in a convenience sample of approved milk bank donors in the United K…

  • Understanding the current and future usage of donor human milk in hospitals

    Open AccessNatalie Shenker, Samantha Griffin et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2023

    The use of donor human milk (DHM) where there is a shortfall of maternal milk can benefit both infant and maternal outcomes but DHM supply is not always assured. This study aimed to understand current DHM usage in UK neonatal units and potential future demand to inform service planning. An online survey was disseminated to all UK neonatal units using Smart Survey or by telephone between February and April 2022 after development alongside neonatal…

  • Comparison between the for‐profit human milk industry and nonprofit human milk banking

    Open AccessNatalie Shenker, Jonathan Linden et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2023

    Human milk (HM) is a highly evolutionary selected, complex biofluid, which provides tailored nutrition, immune system support and developmental cues that are unique to each maternal-infant dyad. In the absence of maternal milk, the World Health Organisation recommends vulnerable infants should be fed with screened donor HM (DHM) from a HM bank (HMB) ideally embedded in local or regional lactation support services. However, demand for HM products …

  • Maintaining human milk bank services throughout the Covid‐19 pandemic

    Open AccessNatalie Shenker, Marta Staff et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2021

    If maternal milk is unavailable, the World Health Organization recommends that the first alternative should be pasteurised donor human milk (DHM). Human milk banks (HMBs) screen and recruit milk donors, and DHM principally feeds very low birth weight babies, reducing the risk of complications and supporting maternal breastfeeding where used alongside optimal lactation support. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a range of challenges to HMBs worl…

  • Use of donor human milk in nonhospitalized infants

    Open AccessSolange Bramer, Robert Boyle et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2021

    When mother's own milk (MOM) is unavailable or insufficient, donor human milk (DHM) is recommended as the next best alternative for low birthweight infants. DHM use for healthy, term infants is increasing, but evidence for growth and tolerability is limited. This retrospective study evaluated growth in term infants in the community who received DHM from a UK milk bank. Mothers of infants receiving DHM between 2017 and 2019 were contacted (n = 49)…

  • Breastfeeding and the origins of health

    Open AccessMeghan B Azad, Nathan Nickel et al.ARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2020

    Breastfeeding and human milk (HM) are critically important to maternal, infant and population health. This paper summarizes the proceedings of a workshop that convened a multidisciplinary panel of researchers to identify key priorities and anticipated breakthroughs in breastfeeding and HM research, discuss perceived barriers and challenges to achieving these breakthroughs and propose a constructive action plan to maximize the impact of future res…

  • Experiences of breastfeeding during Covid‐19

    Open AccessAmy Brown, Natalie ShenkerARTICLEMaternal and Child Nutrition2020

    The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown and social distancing led to changes to breastfeeding support available to women in the United Kingdom. Face-to-face professional support was reduced, and face-to-face peer support was cancelled. Anecdotal media accounts highlighted practices separating some mothers and babies in hospitals, alongside inaccurate stories of the safety of breastfeeding circulating. Meanwhile, new families were confined t…