Imagine our excitement when Anusha came full circle, from donating, to receiving, to donating milk with us again! It warms our hearts when moms who have received milk in the early days later bring in a full supply and are able to donate milk.
Encouraging moms to donate milk
When Anusha Ramachandran “graduated” as a milk donor, she reflected on her experience in a moving public post on Facebook, encouraging other moms to donate milk. Anusha wrote:
After breastfeeding and pumping for this little one there are two lessons learned, patience and the gift of sharing. Going through postpartum, dealing with baby acid reflux, managing work both outside and at home, there’s one thing that kept me motivated to breastfeed—breastmilk donation. I was able to pass on good health not only to Nandita, but to many premature babies that were in need.
I wanted to share this post not to boast about my own achievement but to throw light on this wonderful service that many moms could be doing if there were more resources available around the world. Breastmilk donation saves lives and helps moms who aren’t able to make breastmilk for their babies for whatever reason. Next time you have excess breastmilk please think about donation and next time someone isn’t able to breastfeed think about donor milk.
Receiving milk for low blood sugar
During World Breastfeeding Week last August, Anusha was excited to attend the opening of our milk depot at Emerson Hospital, where Nandita had been born. Just two months later, she returned to Emerson to give birth to her second child, Abhimanyu Sandeep. He arrived a bit early, with a weight of 5 pounds, 7 ounces. Because of low blood sugar, his caregivers recommended immediate supplementation.
They offered me either formula or donor milk until my milk came in. Being a past donor myself I thought no further and opted for donor milk. He was on 90% donor milk at the hospital while I worked to get my supply up. I was really nervous about my supply in the two days that I was in the hospital. The morning that we were about to be discharged I had all paperwork filled and the nurse had donor milk packed for me to bring home, but like magic my milk came in and I did not have to bring home donor milk. We are all back home and well. I just wanted to thank you for the service you do. I felt really grateful for being on the receiving end this time. Thanks to you and a shout out to all donor moms.
Donating milk once again
In December, we were delighted to hear from Anusha once again.
We are finally settled in and getting into a routine now….I am once again blessed with a good supply and have been screened and cleared to be a second-time donor. . . . If my story encourages more moms to seek out donor milk and more moms to share breastmilk there’s nothing better than that.
Thank you to Anusha, and also to hospitals like Emerson, which respond to the needs of families in their communities by making it easy to both receive and donate milk.
Screening to become a breast milk donor is done through an easy four-step process. Once accepted for donation, milk can be shipped for free door-to-door or through one of our donor milk depots throughout the Northeast.
