Eastland WIC Becomes Newest Depot
Monday, 4/22/2019
Mothers who donate their extra breastmilk to Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas (MMBNT) can now drop it off at Eastland WIC, the newest of dozens of collection sites across Texas.
Donors can deliver their frozen breastmilk to the office, located at 935 E. Main Street. Staff at the depot accept donations between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays and will securely store the milk before sending it to MMBNT in Fort Worth.
“I am thrilled the Eastland WIC office is a collection site for breastmilk,” Jill Simon, Clinic Manager and Nutritionist, said. “This will allow us to further assist breastfeeding mothers and babies. Hopefully we will also see an increase in our WIC participation numbers and an increase in the number of donors.”
MMBNT collects donor milk from more than 40 collection sites, or depots, throughout North Texas and surrounding areas. Eastland WIC is the first depot in Eastland County. Other depots in the region are in Stephenville and Abilene.
Milk donors store the extra breastmilk their own babies don’t need and donate it to the nonprofit, which tests, pasteurizes and dispenses donor human milk for fragile and critically ill infants without access to their mothers’ own milk.
MMBNT staff screen all potential milk donors through medical histories and blood tests and only process a donor’s milk once staff have approved the donor. Milk processing includes thawing, nutritional analysis, pasteurization and bacterial testing to ensure safety.
Donor human milk is the standard of care for premature infants without access to their mothers’ own milk who have severe feeding problems, intestinal malformations and life-threatening complications such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Eighty percent of MMBNT’s donor milk serves babies in hospital NICUs, while 20 percent serves babies at home.
Those who are interested in becoming milk donors can start the process by calling MMBNT at (817) 810-0071. To contact the depot at Eastland WIC, call (866) 907-0080.
