My name is Heather, and I am 39 years old, living in Youngsville, LA with my husband, 15 year old stepson, 2˝ year old son, and 1 year old daughter. My other stepson lives in Prairieville, LA. Three and a half years ago, I married the most wonderful man in the world. Six months into our marriage, we got pregnant with our first child, Jack. He is now a healthy 2 1/2 year old little boy. Eight days shy of my 38th birthday last year, we had our first daughter, Emory. After our son was born, it was obvious that I was producing an endless supply of milk, which allowed me to store up (via pumping) months of milk for him, while also breastfeeding him. After we learned that I was pregnant with our second child, I wasn't quite sure if I would be as blessed with the abundant milk supply I had after my first child. After Emory was born, I began breastfeeding her within hours of her birth, but we had a tough time. Within 4 days, my milk supply had come in, but she was still unable to latch on properly, leaving me very sore, very frustrated, and very sad. I won't go into details on the pain, but it was enough to deter me from continuing to breastfeed. That was when I decided to start pumping exclusively. My fears of a low milk supply were unfounded, for, as in my first experience with my son, I was blessed with a very abundant supply. I was producing much more than my daughter was consuming, so I was able to freeze a significant amount each day from the beginning. About that same time I read about a milk donor laboratory and my parents contacted me about one they had heard about. I prayed about it, and within days, I was online filling out the application. I knew that if God had blessed me with this gift of milk for my babies, and the ability for my body to produce as much as it was producing, that my purpose was to help those that were in need. I only had one choice, and that was to share my gift with those who needed it the most. My heart aches for these mommies and babies, but I am so glad that something that comes so easy to me will benefit those who are less fortunate.

I was anxious to get the email accepting me as a donor. After my application was approved, I completed all the necessary lab work. A few weeks later, I received the exciting news that I had been selected to be an official milk donor for the San Gabriel Valley Milk Bank. I anxiously awaited the arrival of my first coolers. I immediately filled 6 large coolers with milk I had accumulated in 2 upright freezers and one deep freezer. I sent pictures to Joe to show the urgency in which I needed those coolers. I continue to this day to ship coolers one to two times per month.

Joe and Alva have been fantastic. Their communication is ongoing and timely, and I receive supplies within days of my requests. As for the shipping process, it's a breeze. My coolers are picked up by FedEx directly from my front door. It couldn't be easier. And I don't pay a thing. The coolers, supplies, shipping, lab work, pump (if needed) is all paid for by the milk bank. I would highly recommend to any woman who has the ability to produce breast milk, and who has the milk to spare, to participate in the wonderful experience that I have been so blessed to be a part of. Thanks to San Gabriel Valley and other milk banks that make this process possible. My heart smiles knowing that I am touching babies all over the country that I won't ever meet but have the honor of helping during this precious time in their lives. Thanks to God for giving me the privilege of helping so many of His little creatures!!

Heather - Youngsville, LA

My name is Alice and I’m a 34 year old massage therapist, mama and breast milk donor living in Huntington Beach, CA.

Here’s my story…. I’ve been “officially” donating my extra breast milk to a bank since May 2006. Prior to that I was sharing my extra milk with my best friend who’s baby girl is 2 weeks younger than my son Shad and I’ve also been breastfeeding my nephew, Evan since he was born in March 2006. I never ever considered giving my baby formula, to me it was inconceivable. I was so insistent upon the notion that breast milk would be the only thing to pass his lips that I began pumping about a month after he was born. I stockpiled a freezer full of milk; you know “Just in case, anything should ever happen to me.”. I had so much at one point, that my best friend came over and got about 25 bags to use when her supply got a little low after she returned to work.

My twin sister felt just as strongly about breastfeeding as I did, and when her son was born 13 weeks after mine we arranged to do a childcare swap when we both returned to work. Thankfully, no bottles required, each of us just breastfed both of the boys. It was a perfect plan until I realized that my son was sensitive to dairy and wheat in my diet. For months I had been trying to determine why he threw up constantly (not just spit up) and why he had such terrible gas. My doctor said he would grow out of it and other people suggested I just switch to formula, but for me that wasn’t an option. Giving up wheat and dairy wasn’t easy, I was already a vegetarian and this limited my diet even more, but I was determined to breastfeed. My beloved twin sister also gave up wheat and dairy just so she could continue to breastfeed my baby while I was at work.

This is when I became an “official” breast milk donor. I had been telling my mom who is a postpartum doula that I had a freezer jammed full of all this extra milk I had been pumping and I wondered if she knew of someone who could use it. She suggested I bring it to the South Coast Mother’s Milk Bank in Irvine, CA. Until then, I had not even known such a bank existed. I eagerly called and made an appointment to go through the screening process. My sister came with me and we both became donors.

Originally I was just looking for a place to unload all my extra milk, but they asked if I would like to continue pumping for them. I learned more about Prolacta, their mission of helping low birth weight and critically ill infants and really wanted to continue pumping for these babies. My own son was born 4 1/2 weeks premature and at 6.3 lbs he was healthy and perfect, but had he not been I would have wanted the best for him, BREAST MILK.

I would definitely recommend becoming a breast milk donor to my friends. The milk bank gave me a free breast pump that I like so much better than my Medela. I keep it at work so I don’t have to carry my other one back and forth and that makes pumping much more convenient. I actually really enjoy pumping too. It gives me an excuse to stop and slow down for 15-20 minutes. I take some deep breaths, think about my son and just relax for a bit.

My experience has been so positive and rewarding with Prolacta and the breast milk bank that my sister and I are opening Milkin’ Mamas Breast Milk Bank in our own community of Seal Beach, CA. We hope to help make donating more accessible and to help promote breastfeeding and its many benefits not only for our own children, but to those most in need.

Alice - Huntington Beach, CA

My name is Keri and I’m a 34 year old mama, massage therapist and breast milk donor. My baby, Evan, was only 7 weeks old when I first learned about donating breast milk from my twin sister Alice. I thought, “Who knew you could donate breast milk and why would you want to?” When Alice’s son, Shad, was 4 months old she figured out that he had a problem digesting the wheat and dairy in her diet. Once she stopped eating the wheat and dairy his constant “spitting up” stopped too.

With this new information about her milk she realized that she couldn’t keep all the pumped milk she had stored in her freezer. The milk was still perfectly good, but just not for her baby. The idea of “throwing out all that milk”, made us both sick. This is when her investigation began and she found South Coast Mother’s Milk Bank in Irvine, CA.

Although my son was fine with my milk, I realized I had a freezer full of milk too. I had been pumping since he was about 3 weeks old and stock piling my “extra milk” in the freezer. Our situation is a bit unique in the fact that on the days I work my sister watches my son and on the days she works I watch her son. On those days we breast feed each others babies. This along with my already abundant supply created a lot of excess milk. There’s no way I’d ever be able to use all the milk that I’d pumped. So, when my sister decided to become a donor so did I. This was a wonderful thing for both me and sick babies. In addition to initially giving all that I had in my freezer I now pump daily for the milk bank too.

Now that I’m a Mama, I feel like my heart has doubled in size. I see how strong and full of life my son is and I wish that for every baby. When I’m pumping, sometimes I sit and wonder about the NICU babies who have a chance to live and thrive because of Evan’s milk. I wish I could meet those babies and families and give them all my love as well as my milk. After becoming breast milk donors and loving it, my sister and I felt like we could do even more and in the Fall of 2006 we are opening our own milk bank in Seal Beach, CA called Milkin’ Mamas.

Keri - Seal Beach, CA