Two-month-old Noemi is acutely malnourished. She lives with her mother in Guatemala, and her mother is currently unable to produce breastmilk.
“Her mother cannot afford formula, so she has been giving her daughter water with sugar or corn mush when she is hungry,” explains our medical partner, Wuqu’ Kawoq (WK). “Unfortunately, this has given Noemi stomach problems, put her at increased of diarrhea, and has increased her risk of seizure due to the electrolyte imbalance that consuming non-breastmilk liquids causes in small infants.”
Noemi is dangerously underweight for her age. Her mother visited different local healers for herbal remedies to increase her milk production, but nothing worked. “Although she wants to help her daughter, she lacks the money to buy her daughter the formula she needs,” says WK.
With $1016, Noemi will receive the formula she needs. “This will save Noemi’s life, giving her the calories, nutrients, and protein she needs to be a healthy baby,” WK explains. “Her immune system will grow stronger with the treatment, and she will no longer be at risk of seizures.”
This funding will also provide her mother with “motivational nutrition education, giving her the tools she needs to help her daughter overcome her malnutrition and help her prevent future malnutrition and illness.”
“I hope that my daughter reaches a good weight and height,” her mother said.