Hudson Valley Breastfeeding recently became only the second facility in all of New York state to receive a license to store and dispense donated breastmilk from a milk bank.
Milk banks collect expressed milk from rigorously screened and tested
volunteers, pasteurize it, and dispense to hopsitals or individuals with a prescription. It can fill a gap where breastfeeding isn't possible, or
where it's slow to get established.
Given that many of the circumstances that make breastfeeding difficult to near impossible—such as severe prematurity, maternal illness, or trying to switch away from formula at a later age due to allergies—are also times when the fine-tuned nutrition and infection-fighting properties of breastmilk are particularly needed, it's surprising to me that New York has been so slow to embrace this option.
Of course it does have to be shipped in from North Carolina, which has the only
milk bank licensed to ship to New York state. (New York mothers can
donate to that milk bank though. Go FedEx overnight shipping!) There
are, in fact, only 10 milk banks in the country (shipping to 80 cities). And sometimes they run out.
Sounds to me like there next step needs to be a much bigger outreach to and cultivation of potential donors. Despite my own plentiful supply, turns out I wouldn't have qualified (I lived in England in the wrong year, so I'm a mad cow risk, doncha know), but it's certainly not like anyone asked. (Though there are those on Craigslist who will pay you . . .) Perhaps the milk banks could borrow some of the blood-drive PR people. (Become a donor.)
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