More Milk!

Tonight we packed up our second donation of milk. 67- 6 ounce bags were packed. That is approximately 402 ounces.

In the last post, I failed to mention where the donated milk goes. all of my donations are made through teh Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas.

The Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas (MMBNT) was established for the purpose of improving the survivability and enhancing the development of premature and critically ill infants in the North Texas area by providing human milk nutrition. MMBNT was founded in 2003 by local neonatologist, Susan Sward-Comunelli, MD.

The principle function of the Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas is to collect human milk from screened donors.  The milk is tested, processed and then dispensed on a prescription basis to infants without acces to their own mother's milk.

The use of human milk has been proven to enhance the survivability and decrease complications of premature infants.  Often, mothers of premature infants cannot provide their own milk for a variety of reasons; including prematue delivery, illness or medication use.

Pasteurization began in September 2004, with approximately 1,000 ounces dispensed.  Each month since has seen an increase in ounces processed and dispensed. Currently, MMBNT has an average of 15,000 ounces dispensed per month.

According to their website:

Milk is dispensed by prescription only. The highest priority recipients are premature and ill hospitalized infants.
Nutritional Uses:

• Prematurity
• Infants recovering from NEC
• Failure to thrive
• Malabsorption syndromes
• Short-gut syndrome
• Renal Failure
• Inborn errors of metabolism
• Post-surgical nutrition
• Cardiac problems
• Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
• Pediatric burn patients
• Medical/Therapeutic Uses:
• Treatment for infectious disease (intractable diarrhea, gastroenteritis, infantile botulism, sepsis, pneumonia, hemorrhagic conjunctivitis)
• Post-surgical healing (omphalocele, gastroschisis, intestinal obstruction, bowel fistula, colostomy repair)
• Immunodeficiency diseases (severe allergies, IgA deficiencies)
• Organ transplants
• Non-infectious intestinal disorders (ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome)

There are not any hospitals in Oklahoma that will take donated breast milk so my milk is shipped via overnight Fed Ex to Fort Worth, Texas.I could drop the milk off in Oklahoma City at the OU Medical Center but it is a little bit out of the way. The milk bank sends me a pre-paid shipping box. We wrap the bags of milk in paper towels to help prevent any bags rubbing together and tearing. Arrange for FedEx to pick up the package and then it will leave Sand Springs on Tuesday and arrive in Texas on Wednesday. Within a day or two, I will receive a confirmation email that they received my milk. Last time it said I sent 250 ounces!

If you are interested you can click to see the milk pasteurizing process.

Here is Kinley in the box of milk. It's helps you see how big the box is that we are shipping in.