A REDDITCH mum has donated 60 litres of breast milk to the Milk Bank at Birmingham Women’s Hospital since she first started donating at the end of February.
The hospital’s Human Milk Bank is the only one in the West Midlands, providing donor breast milk to neonatal babies at the Women’s, as well as to other hospitals around the region and beyond.
Mum Jodie Street has been donating to the milk bank since having her second child and wanted to donate to help other babies and families.
She said: “Despite being a premature baby myself, I’d not previously heard of human milk donors.
“I first became aware of milk banks a few years ago when I read a very inspiring article about someone that donated their milk.
“It talked about the benefits donor milk has on very sick and premature babies and I knew it was something I’d like to do in future.
“My second child was born in January and I am exclusively expressing milk for her so thought it would be a great opportunity to look properly into donating.
“Since becoming a donor and raising awareness of the importance of it on social media, so many people have reach out to me to say how amazing it is and that they’re also surprised they’ve never heard of it.”
The donor breast milk can also be offered to support mothers who are still establishing their own milk supply or are unable to.
For Jodie, this was a big motivation for when she decided to donate.
She said “I regularly donate blood, and I try to volunteer and help out wherever I can, so the most rewarding thing is just knowing that it’s going to babies who need it.”
Jodie has spoken to friends and family about donating and is encouraging other people to try to donate too.
Throughout April, the Milk Bank provided 35 litres of donor breast milk to the Women’s Neonatal Unit, and 46 litres were sent out to other Neonatal Units across England and Wales.
