Hillcrest collecting breast milk for premature infants (Waco Tribune-Herald)

On behalf of medically fragile infants across the state, officials at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center are asking local mothers to donate their excess breast milk.

The hospital recently became a “milk depot” for an Austin organization called Mothers’ Milk Bank. It is one of nine places across the country that collect breast milk from mothers who have some to spare and give it to those unable to produce their own.

The milk is only available via a prescription and almost exclusively goes to ill or premature babies, said April Rudge, the Austin bank’s outreach director. In some instances, it is also given to mothers who adopt children, she said, but only when there is enough milk to meet the needs of fragile babies first.

“There is a steady increase in the demand, especially as more hospitals are using donor milk and having success with it,” Rudge said.



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