Liquid gold

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The call came four days after her infant daughter died.

“What do you want to do with your breast milk?” the bereavement nurse asked. 

Mary Michael Kelley had been pumping the milk for the 12 days of her daughter Kathryn’s short life, and now UAB needed to know what to do with the 700 ounces of milk. As the nurse explained there was no donor breast milk bank in Alabama, Kelley gave her the go-ahead to throw the milk away.

Less than two years later, Kelley, an Edgewood resident, found herself in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) again, this time with son Micah, who was delivered by emergency C-section on Thanksgiving Day 2012. Doctors said he wouldn’t live, as he suffered from a condition that filled his lungs with fluid just as Kathryn had. 

During the eight months he was in the NICU, Micah drank the milk his mother pumped, and Kelley saw firsthand its importance while also learning that many mothers can’t provide milk for their infants in the NICU.

“A lot of babies are so underdeveloped that giving them formula can be really scary for them because it increases their risk of developing life-threatening conditions,” Kelley said.

Now 19 months old, Micah and his mom attend NICU reunions at Brookwood Medical Center, where doctors are now partnering with Kelley and others to create a milk bank program in Birmingham.

“We have this liquid gold running through our body [as a mother],” Kelley said. “It’s even being used for cancer patients undergoing chemo now to help with their immunity. So many moms have such access that they want to be able to do something with it.”

That’s where the milk bank comes in.

Noting the parallels between a milk bank and the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, where she serves as executive director, Kelley decided to approach the board of directors about starting the Mothers’ Milk Bank in Alabama. 

The bank has received startup funding support through the Junior League of Birmingham and the Jefferson County Public Health Advised Fund and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham.  

The new Mothers’ Milk Bank of Alabama in West Homewood is now acting as a human milk depot. The bank collects breast milk donations from lactating women and ships them to the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas for pasteurization before the donor human milk is distributed to NICUs in hospitals across the southern United States.

The Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas has received such high demand for the breast milk that it can’t ship to places where it does not receive donations. Once milk comes in from donor moms in the Birmingham area, hospitals in Birmingham can start requesting milk.

Over the next year, bank organizers plan to grow their donor base, engage mothers in the community and receive training on the pasteurization process, with hopes to open a processing facility by summer 2015.

How to get involved

Breast-feeding moms

Who: Women who are currently breast-feeding infants under one year old can be screened at no charge to become donors.

Why: The Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas estimates it needs more than 805 donor mothers to meet this year’s projected demand from hospital NICUs. Another 650 or more volunteer milk donors are needed to meet the demand and fill all orders received from neonatologists. 

How: The bank asks for donations of 100 ounces, and most moms donate this amount over several months or a year. Once screened, the donor simply brings frozen milk in to the bank.

Where: Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, 107 Walter Davis Drive 

When: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-noon 

What next: Call the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas toll-free at 1-866-810-0071 or visit texasmilkbank.org.

Moms not currently breast-feeding

A mom’s advisory council has formed for mothers who want to get involved in other ways besides milk donation. Wood said she believes it will be the most powerful part of what they do.

To learn more, contact Katherine Wood at kwood@mmbal.org or call 942-8911.

Anyone who wants to learn more

Visit texasmilkbank.org.