Tucson moms can donate breast milk to a new milk depot that opened at Tucson Medical Center last week.
The milk depot at TMC is a local donation site overseen by the Mothers' Milk Bank at Austin, which provides human milk to hospitals across more than two dozen states.
Moms who are breastfeeding infants under 1 year old can be screened by the organization to become milk donors in Tucson. The screening process is free.
The Mothers' Milk Bank provides milk to babies who need the "life-giving and sustaining nutrition and immune support of donor human milk to thrive," says a press release from TMC.
Eliezer Asúnsolo loads breast milk donated by his wife, Sonya, into ice chests at Tucson Medical Center.
"Nonprofit milk banks like MMBA ensure donor human milk is safe and available to the infants who need it most," the press release says. "The pasteurized breast milk dispensed is processed to meet the specific needs of fragile and sick babies, and tested to verify that it meets standards of safety."
If you're interested in donating breast milk to premature, ill and medically fragile infants, call 1-877-813-6455 to start the screening process.
"We are so excited to be a donation site for breast milk," said Noreen Carver, a board-certified lactation consultant and registered nurse at TMC. "We offer donor human milk in our NICU for our most medically fragile babies and on our postpartum unit as a supplement to a mother’s own milk as medically needed.
"We have seen firsthand how valuable this program is to these mothers. Since the inception of our donor human milk program, we have seen improved outcomes for babies in our NICU. On our postpartum unit, we have seen increased exclusive breastfeeding at discharge."
A new milk depot opened at Tucson Medical Center, allowing Tucson moms to donate breast milk to babies.
