A mom in Nevada, Jennifer Mariani, has been donating breastmilk for years. Now that there is a baby formula shortage, Mariani said she donated her whole garage full freezer twice, containing more than 2,000 ounces.
Mariani posted her stash on Facebook, saying it's a way to pay it forward after her grandmother struggled to feed twins years ago.
AS per KOLO-TV, she said that her grandmother had a twin, so her neighbors helped her breastfeed.
It was something that used to be expected for women to help other women. Mariano mainly worked with a family in Reno, meeting up whenever the milk supply was low.
She said she liked the idea of donating to someone local. She added that meeting the mom and the baby feels good and knowing that they are doing good.
Breast milk donation for babies at NICU
Mariani is not the only mom who is doing their part to help hungry babies. St. Mary's Medical Center uses donated breastmilk for babies in the NICU from the milk bank partners. Amanda Makoutz, a lactation consultant in St. Mary's, said that if moms happen to have extra breast milk, this is the time to help babies who need it most.
The hospital partners with Prolacta, screen breast milk donors and gives moms freezer bags and coolers once they pass screening. St. Mary's provides counseling before and after birth. The benefits of breastmilk are immeasurable, she emphasized.
In situations where a formula is not readily available or in disaster preparedness, breastmilk is readily available, Makoutz said.
Mariani said she would continue donating through social media. So far, she has met more than four families who have used her milk.
She said she is in touch with a mom after work in Carson City because she is in Reno. The generous breastmilk donor hopes more women will donate and share breast milk.
Major increase in demand for breast milk
According to Lindsey Groff, the executive director of the Human Milk Bank Association of North America, the formula shortage prompted a significant increase in demand for breastmilk. Although premature and medically fragile pregnant such as infants in the neonatal intensive care units (NICU), are given priority for donor milk, healthy, full-term babies can be recipients as well, as per NBC News.
The Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin in Texas, one of the largest milk banks in the U.S., reports receiving a surge of requests for milk in February when a product recall of formula milk was announced.
The requests increased tremendously in the past three weeks, with milk banks getting 30 extra calls each week; Kim Updegrove, the Texas Milk Bank's executive director and the chairperson for the standards committee at the Human Milk Bank Association of North America, said.
She noted that those reaching out to them are parents who are frustrated by the empty milk shelves and the daunting search for formula milk in various stores. Most of these parents either could not find their formula at all, or their babies could not tolerate the formula milk they had to switch to, Updegrove added.
Meanwhile, in the last three weeks, Mid-Atlantic Mothers' Milk Bank in Pittsburgh increased its donations by 20 percent to meet demand, said Denise O'Connor, its executive director.
