Mother's Milk Bank

Many of you will never have heard of a milk bank...and for good reason.  There is rarely reason to discuss breast milk in most people's daily lives.  However, as a NICU nurse, donated expressed breast milk (DEBM) is something I deal with often.  Working in a NICU for the past 6 years has given me the opportunity to help many tiny (and I mean tiny) babies develop into big, healthy babies that can go home with their moms and dads and live healthy lives.  For babies born early (less than 35 weeks gestation) our NICU is able to provide DEBM, not all NICU's can. If it weren't for the DEBM we are lucky enough to get in our NICU, many of these tender and fragile systems would have to get formula.  Don't get me wrong, I am not a boob-Nazi (as we sometimes call our more over-zealous lactation consultants).  If a mother doesn't want to breast feed, or can't for some reason, that is fine with me.  A full-term baby's system is equipped to deal with   formula just fine.  Being a mother is hard enough without being made to feel like you're a failure for choosing formula though.  However, for babies that are early (especially those that are really early - like 24-28 weeks) the DEBM is WAY, WAY better than formula.  These babies really need it...unfortunately, we can't give it to them unless we have a supply of DEBM, which requires donations from moms currently breastfeeding.  I can't tell you how often we run low because the milk bank is short on supply.

I have been lucky enough to produce a lot of breast milk...far more than my Nora needs (as you have probably noticed from her pictures!)  For that reason I have decided to donate to the Mother's Milk Bank of Austin.  I am extremely lucky to have such a great milk supply and as my deep freezer fills up I am reminded that there are tiny babies that really could use that milk, much more than Nora needs a backup supply.  So today I made a call that will hopefully get me started on the path to milk donation!  I know that some of you reading this are new mothers and I encourage you to look into milk donation if you find that you are producing more milk than you need.  There are a lot of babies out there could benefit from your generosity!  They will never know that you helped keep them healthy, but you will know and that will feel really good and you have no idea what a difference you will make!