Helping sick babies with donor milk is now easier for southwest Dallas moms
Accommodating busy donor moms is a priority for Mothers' Milk Bank of North Texas. We recently partnered with Methodist Charlton Medical Center in southwest Dallas to provide a 40th convenient drop off location for milk donations. The hospital’s lactation office on the first floor by the Outpatient Admitting entrance is now accepting breastmilk donations Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Methodist Charlton’s first milk donor is a hospital employee, Erandy Rivera. She says, “My baby and I are so happy to be able to share my extra breastmilk to help fragile and sick babies and it is so convenient to be able to drop off my milk close to home.” Celebrating its 40th year, Methodist Charlton has been designated a Texas Ten Step Hospital for Breastfeeding Care and Support, and the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners and International Lactation Consultant Association award for excellence in lactation care. Reba Godfrey, who serves as the Lactation Services Coordinator, explains, “It is incredibly generous for mothers to donate their extra breastmilk and we want to make it easier and more convenient for our mothers here in southwest Dallas and surrounding areas.”
Collecting donor milk for pasteurization at Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas is accomplished in many ways; most commonly through collection sites called milk “depots.” Approved donor moms can freeze the extra milk their own babies don’t need and take it to a depot close to home. Depots safely store donations in freezers before it’s transported to the milk bank for processing.
Upon arrival, frozen milk is logged into a sophisticated barcode and tracking system. Milk is then thawed, pasteurized and tested for bacteria before it is packaged in tamper resistant bottles for premature and critically ill infants. Eighty percent of donor milk is dispensed by physician prescription to over 100 hospital NICUs. Twenty percent is dispensed by physician prescription to medically needy babies at home. For more information about how you can become a donor, please click here. For a list of all 40 depot sites, click here.