Hailey is both a donor and former recipient mom, so her experience with donor human milk is quite well-rounded.
“I’ve been blessed with three beautiful girls, and fortunately, I was able to breastfeed all my children. In 2020, I was able to donate my breast milk to the Mothers Milk Bank in Austin with my second child, Riley. I learned about MMBA because I had an extreme oversupply of breastmilk in which I had no more storage space available and thought the excess milk could help babies in need. That year, I was able to donate 3,866 ounces of milk.
On March 4, 2022, I gave birth to our third daughter, Ava, a premature 28-weeker. After giving birth, I began pumping for our tiny miracle. I will never forget the first time we walked into the NICU to see my little girl, and the first question the medical team asked was, “Would you be open to receiving donor breastmilk if we run out of your milk?” I quickly replied, “ABSOLUTELY!” All I could think about was two years ago how my milk was able to help someone in the same situation I was in now! As I resumed pumping, I felt such relief to know I would have help providing milk for my baby.
Our hospital received donor milk from the Milk Bank in Austin. I sometimes thought, “Wouldn’t that be cool if my sweet Ava received some of the milk I had donated for Riley?” I decided right then and there that, if possible, I wanted to donate milk again to help more babies. Our sweet Ava was discharged from the hospital after nine weeks in the NICU. She’s doing great and a healthy 12-pound girl now. If it weren’t for the donor milk to help us on our journey, we could have had delays in her growth and development.
I will continue to donate the excess milk, and I pray that it will help mothers and babies just like it has helped my family. Providing milk for babies is one thing that makes me feel good and accomplished. I want to help share the peace and love MMBA provided us this year with many other mothers and babies, so I choose to continue to donate my milk!”
Babies like Ava are born every day, and new moms can help them. Visit milkbank.org/donate-milk to learn more about donating breast milk.