Li-LAC – Breast Milk Labelling & Tracking System

Savant understands the steps and checks involved in feeding babies in a hospital and can provide secure solutions for baby feeding including the following applications:

Li-LAC MMC (Maternity Milk Checking) is HIMSS 6 and Scan4Safety compliant app that runs on a handheld smart scanner. The app is used in a Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU), Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or maternity unit to control all aspects of human expressed breast milk (EBM) labelling, expressed breast milk feed checking and tracking. 

Li-LAC MB (Milk Bank) is an application used in a milk bank to manage all processes related to donor expressed breast milk (DEBM) donation, processing, testing, authorisation, issue and track-and-trace.

The Benefits of Li-LAC MB (Milk Bank)

Use of Li-LAC MB (Milk Bank) in your milk bank will give the following benefits:

• Enforced compliance to UK NICE guidelines
• Ensures a consistent approach is taken for all breast milk donation processing
• Forces unique traceable labels to be affixed to all milk products
• A paperless system removes the need to record for any donor or breast milk donation information on paper records
• A single accessible database of all information needed to record and track donor breast milk information
• Will not allow DEBM to be issued if it has not completed all authorisation checks
• Easy tracking of all donations from the donor to the hospital they have been issued to
• Comprehensive reporting of all breast milk products, from the volume of donations received from a donor to donations that have failed testing, to current milk stocks, to the issue of milk products to hospitals.

How Is The Milk Labelled?

All breast milk that is expressed for use in a neonatal or maternity unit is labelled by Li-LAC MMC with a detailed label that includes a barcode before being stored in a breast milk bank or the fridges used in the Unit.

Li-LAC MMC allows expressed milk to be labelled as soon as it is expressed, to ensure that the bottle is identifiable back to the mother who expressed it and records the babies it can be fed to. This label includes the date when the milk as expressed, which is used at point of feeding to check to ensure that the milk is still in date and can be used.

When a feed is to be given to a baby, the labelled bottle of expressed breast milk is scanned at the cotside to check that the correct bottle has been selected for the baby to be fed. After the bottle barcode has been scanned, the baby’s wristband barcode or cot label is also scanned to inform Li-LAC MMC which baby the bottle is about to be fed to. The app then cross-checks the babies that are recorded on the bottle as valid recipients of the milk and the scanned baby barcode to ensure that there is a match. If the baby’s barcode identifier is found in the list of the bottle’s acceptable recipients, Li-LAC MMC allows that bottle to be fed to the baby. Full details of the feed can then be recorded.

Li-LAC MMC also allows all feed syringes and continuous feeds to be labelled with the same information that is held on the breast milk bottle to ensure that irrespective of the receptacle or the method a feed is given to a baby, the checking of the feed for the correct baby and the product is in-date is the same. This ensures that there is consistency in all feed checking which helps with user training and acceptance.

Scanning the bottle or feed syringe label at feed time, together with the baby’s wristband barcode will ensure that a newborn is always given the correct, in-date milk. To ensure the process is quick, easy and accurate, the Li-LAC MMC labelling and checking app is used, which comprises of matching the bottle or syringe label to the baby about to be fed. The app has been designed to minimise the need for typing, utilising scanning of barcoded information wherever possible, to ensure that the user experience is straightforward.

The baby wristband is checked to ensure that it corresponds with the information on the label on the milk.  The app notifies the medical staff whether they are compatible or not. This prevents any chance of a mix-up and removes room for human error and feeding the wrong milk product to a baby, which could be detrimental to the baby’s health. The cot-side check also ensures that the baby is not only given the correct milk product but also milk that is in date and safe. The application’s scope also includes the recording of all feeds in a feed log.  This allows a nurse to track feeding times and quantities for each baby in the unit.  This can help the mother and hospital staff ensure that the newborn baby is being sufficiently fed and fluid volumes are accurately recorded.

The app’s scope also includes the recording details of all feeds in a feed log.  The feed log allows a nurse to track feeding times, feed products and feed quantities for each baby in the unit.  This can help hospital staff ensure that the newborn baby is being sufficiently fed and fluid volumes are accurately recorded.

Savant’s Li-LAC breast milk suite of applications manages all aspects of breast milk donation, processing and feeding.  The applications cover uses in a breast milk bank (Li-LAC MB) and maternity or neonatal unit (Li-LAC MMC). The scope of the applications includes EBM (Expressed Breast Milk), DEBM (Donor Expressed Breast Milk), fortified and formula feed labelling. Each product that is fed to a baby is checked at the point of feeding and recorded, including expressed breast milk. Li-LAC MB can be seamlessly integrated into the Li-LAC MMC app that is used on the handheld smart devices to show which donor milk was fed to which baby, to complete the full traceability of donor milk to the recipient. 

Key Uses For Li-LAC MB And MMC

Having total control over breast milk volume, storage and the number of units is extremely important for managing feeding services. The ability to keep records using the Li-LAC system can prove invaluable, especially when the benefits to every party involved are considered. All feed details can be tracked and logged to be later referred to. This improves the recording between the baby and the milk they are consuming, ensuring that it is being given at the right time and in the right amount. All feed details can be tracked and logged to be referenced later. This improves the recording of the baby and the milk they are fed, and helps to ensure that it is given at the right time and the right product. Using the interface between Li-LAC MMC (Maternal Milk Checking) and Li-LAC MB (Milk Bank) will create an active stock management system where as a bottle of DEBM donor milk is used by a neonatal unit, the milk bank’s stock in that location is immediately updated to show that milk has been used.  This allows central stock management of donor milk to be carried out by milk bank staff as they will be able to see the milk stocks in all of their linked neonatal units and can automatically replenish donor milk stock when the stock location’s minimum stock levels are passed.

With the Li-LAC MB system, this can be used to manage the entire process of the milk bank, including logging the number of units and the usage for each one. The application is also fully compliant with the UK NICE guidelines, using ISBT128 international standard barcodes to label the donor-expressed breast milk (DEBM) milk. By having this critical, secure and robust system in place, you can ensure that no matter who is working with the milk bank, that the processes are followed that ensure milk is not issued from the milk bank that has not been authorised or passed all validation steps. The database underlying Li-LAC allows full reporting of milk in the milk bank to reduce the risk of milk not being available to hospitals that request stock.

The multi-user system also allows multiple staff to use the system at once, ensuring that everything is still logged accurately even during busy times. Should any issues occur or if a certain type of milk needs to be sourced quickly, a simple referral to the application will provide all of the information that staff will need, assuring that stock is visible and easily identifiable.

Breast Milk Labelling And Tracking System At Savant

At Savant, we pride ourselves on being able to provide products that improve lives and have ethical applications. As an employee-owned company, we understand the importance of collaboration and using the strengths of each of our employees to improve our offerings as a business. Li-LAC has been designed specifically to improve processes in commercial settings and ensure that hospitals, mothers and children can benefit as a result of the accurate tracking system.

Our Li-LAC MB product can be purchased as software and installed locally on your own servers. You are also able to avoid any upfront costs by paying in monthly instalments. This can make the software more viable as you can factor the costs into your monthly budgets and manage your budget more effectively. Once the system is in use, you can ensure the safety of the milk being given to newborns to ensure that it is fully validated and authorised.

To learn more about our breast milk labelling and tracking solution or to explore the options for applying the system, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. To email us directly, visit our website, where you’ll find our contact form. Using this form will send your enquiry directly to us with your contact details.  We aim to reply to you as soon as possible to begin discussing how our Li-LAC systems can benefit you. 

Contact us today to learn more about our products and services and see how we can help you.