Nearby hospitals are running out of a life-saving liquid. Human breast milk is needed to feed premature and sick newborns in Central Texas. Lagging donations could cause a potential shortage at Mothers’ Milk Bank in Austin.
Everyday, Tiffany Parker visits her premature daughter at St. David's neo-natal intensive care unit, just to hold her tiny baby. Gianna is one of a set of twins arriving last month who were born too soon.
"They were close to 2 months early, so they were actually taken right away within minutes of delivery and brought to this Neonatal Intensive Care Unit," Parker said.
At birth, the babies weighed about four pounds each. They were put into incubators and needed milk.
Doctors told Parker her babies were going to need human breast milk and Parker was not lactating yet. They asked Parker if she would allow nurses to feed the baby donor milk.
Parker recalls, “I was a little surprised because I had never heard of using donor milk."
Many premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit need donor milk to survive and right now donations are falling behind the increasing demand.
Neonatology Specialist Dr. Audelio Rivera cares for the tiny patients. Rivera says for them, breast milk is the only option,
“It has the nutrients that are necessary to make a lot of things develop in these very early babies that are premature and not very healthy," Rivera said.
Milk donations come from lactating women who produce enough milk to pump for other babies.
Parker's twins relied on donor milk for almost two weeks, gift that she says she's very grateful for.
“Two young babies in the NICU having something that I knew is going to be beneficial for them,” said Parker.
One week later, doctors released little Gianna from the hospital and now the Parkers can care for both bundles of joy at home.
