One mom and 87 gallons of breast milk. That's just how much the mom in this video donated to milk banks (which primarily help premature babies). It's an incredible thing that she's done! 28 year old Alicia Richman from Texas donated for about 14 months and accumulated a total of 87 gallons of breast milk. In the above image, they stacked that same amount to give a better visual. Incredible!
The video below also goes over the milk donation process from a milk bank perspective.
There is a national shortage of breast milk, so even if you don't think you can break the world record, you should still consider donating breast milk. Alicia's donations have gone to hundreds of babies, and she's saved many lives because of the "liquid gold" (breast milk). Consider it, then seek out a local milk bank or hospital for more information!
Have you ever donated breast milk? Was your baby a recipient of donor milk?
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Comments (8)
This is a little different, but I tried to donate breastmilk for my nephew when he was premature (I was breastfeeding my own infant at the time, so I was actively lactating). But the hospital wouldn't take it!! I even offered to have it tested, or to submit to any test myself. My sister said she would sign any waiver for it, whatever it would take for legal liability - but they wouldn't do it. So my preemie nephew got formula instead of breastmilk, because I wasn't a formally approved donor from the milk bank.
And the breastmilk from the milk bank went to the more premature preemies. (He was like 35/36 wks, not early enough to warrant "special treatment.")
My daughter receives donor milk. She is 15 months old, but we still nurse and use donor milk. She has a blood disorder, so we are going to keep using donor milk for as long as we can. It's been a life saver, and has avoided her needing many blood transfusions.
If breastfeeding goes well for me & I find a milk bank, I'll consider it. I support them fully!
hm, never knew much about this topic. I am curious why there is a shortage (beyond what the woman said). Do women who give birth prematurely have issues providing breast milk for their child? I would assume it wouldn't have to go through all the testing.
Regardless, I'll try to keep this in mind if I ever find myself with child.
It's a blessing when women can and will do this. I remember in the 80s, they stopped this for a while until scientific testing for Aids could be procured. Up until then, women were coming into the hospital where I worked and giving what they could. And moms of premature babies can produce milk just fine. Their bodies tell them to do exactly what they would do should the child be full term. They just might have to pump if baby cannot suck just yet, and the nurses would use a lavage tube to put it in baby's tummy. But, not everyone has the same amount of success with this, and, you always have babies in the NICU who are being put up for adoption, but are too premature, therefore can use breast milk from someone for a few weeks until they can go home. And for the mom who was refused to give milk to her nephew, I really don't know all that went into that decision.
We don't have a milk bank here. And I would've loved to have donated, but I had trouble producing anything for my own boy. It started tapering off after about four weeks, and by the time he was five weeks old and in the hospital for pyloric stenosis, it had dried up completely. Ordinarily I would've felt like a failure, but he seemed to prefer formula over breastmilk anyway. So, I guess it was okay.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - I don't think the hospital was allowed to do that! It is proven by research that breast milk is better for babies! Especially for premature infants.
I've done this. I produce so much milk its ridiculous. I had to pump every 2 hours and each breast produced about 8 ounces of milk at a time. It was way to much for one child to consume.