Say Hello to Our Newest Dallas Depot

Monday, 7/17/2017

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas is the newest breastmilk collection site for Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas (MMBNT), making it easier for Dallas moms to donate to babies in need.

Mothers who want to donate their excess breastmilk can drop off their donations at the hospital’s Special Care Nursery on the 6th floor of the Jackson Building, located at 8200 Walnut Hill Ln. They will need to press the call button by the door to receive assistance from a nurse.

Special Care Nursery staff will securely store the milk before sending it to MMBNT in Fort Worth for pasteurization and shipment to critically ill infants. Donations are accepted 7 days a week at all hours, except during shift change from 6 to 7:30 a.m. and 6 to 7:30 p.m.

“Texas Health Dallas has come full circle helping fragile infants,” lactation nurse Nancy Kelley said. “Not only do we utilize donor human milk for babies in our NICU, we can now conveniently accept donations from moms in our Special Care Nursery. It’s where many babies go after they have been in the NICU.”

MMBNT collects donor human milk from more than 40 donation sites, or depots, throughout North Texas and surrounding areas. Texas Health Dallas is one of five depots in Dallas.

Milk bank staff screen all potential milk donors through medical histories and blood tests. Once approved, donors freeze the extra milk their own babies don’t need and take it to a depot close to home.

When milk arrives at MMBNT, staff log it into a computer barcode and tracking system. It then undergoes processing, which includes thawing, nutritional analysis, pasteurization and bacterial testing.

Donor human milk is the standard of care for premature infants without access to mother’s 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 medically needy babies at home.

Those who are interested in becoming donors can start the process by calling MMBNT at (817) 810-0071. To speak to someone at Texas Health Dallas’s depot, call the lactation department at (214) 345-2557.