Breast milk supply short, donors needed

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Mother’s Milk Bank at Austin has issued an urgent call for donations in an effort to provide breast milk for all fragile newborns in neonatal intensive care units.

The donations will go to infants whose doctors have prescribed donated milk to help protect against devastating infections, the milk bank said.

“We are meeting just 50 percent of the need at present,” reports Kim Updegrove, a certified nurse midwife and executive director of the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin.

Requests to the milk bank come from hospitals throughout Texas and 20 other states.

Experts say the supply is likely to decline further over the holidays unless more mothers with surplus milk become donors.

The milk bank says its mission is to serve "the most vulnerable infants first." It also dispenses surplus milk only after it is pasteurized and tested. The milk is dispensed based on need rather than on insurance or financial resources.

For how-to-donate information, visit the milk bank's website or call 512-494-0800 or 1-877-813-6455