Community Health Worker Megan Herschel departs the Dartmouth Health Women’s Health Resource Center (WHRC) in Lebanon, N.H., with a cooler bag of human milk on her way to meet with clients in the birthing pavilion at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center on Friday, June 3, 2022. The WRHC serves as a dispensary and donation depot for the Massachusetts-based Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, the only such location in New Hampshire. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Valley News photographs — James M. Patterson

For mothers who are critically ill or are not able to produce enough milk on their own, pasteurized human milk is available with a doctor's prescription for $15 per 3.4-ounce bottle at the Dartmouth Health Women's Health Resource Center in Lebanon, N.H, Friday, June 3, 2022. The center tries to keep 50 of the bottles, frozen with a shelf-life of six to eight months, on hand at its milk bank. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Valley News — James M. Patterson

Krista Duval, manager of the Dartmouth Health Women’s Health Resource Center in Lebanon, N.H., calls Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast to check on production on Friday, June 3, 2022. While trying to meet demand for milk amid a shortage of baby formula, the milk bank has also had problems getting bottles and keeping full staff levels. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

LEBANON — The ongoing nationwide shortage of infant formula is spurring a surge in donations of human breast milk and money to area breast milk banks, including at the Dartmouth Health Women’s Health Resource Center, to help provide milk to infants in need.

Breast milk banks are depositories and dispensaries of human breast milk, where donated, pasteurized milk is stored frozen and provided to families or hospitals to help feed infants who lack a sufficient food supply.

Directors of milk banks have seen a welcome surge in people wanting to donate breast milk in response to the nationwide infant formula shortage, which stems from a combination of ongoing production slowdowns and a major product recall from the nation’s largest infant formula manufacturer.

“We have seen a huge increase in the number of people who have wanted to donate breast milk, as well as in people who want to donate money,” said Rachel Foxx, co-executive director of the Vermont Donor Milk Center, a nonprofit breast milk bank based in Essex, Vt.

The surge came following a previous dip in donations. In March, the Women’s Health Resource Center on Hanover Street in Lebanon had reported a 66% drop in donations, from an average supply of 150 100-milliliter bottles of milk in 2020 to an average supply of 50 bottles.

“(It) limits the number of bottles a family can receive,” Krista Duval, manager of the center, said at the time. “In some cases we (were) turning families away.”

Deborah Youngblood, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, said there have been two significant surges in breast milk donations since 2020. During the initial novel coronavirus pandemic, many working women were at home with their infants. As a result the mothers did not need the milk they had stockpiled in their freezers for their infants during the workweek.

The donor milk shortage began once people started returning to work, Youngblood said, though the shortage was resolved by the recent donation offers “by hundreds of women” in the wake of the nationwide formula shortage.

“It’s heartwarming to see an outpouring of people stepping forward in a crisis to see that babies, who are not their own, are getting fed,” Youngblood said.

The baby formula shortage escalated in February when Abbott Nutrition, the largest infant formula manufacturer in the U.S., initiated a voluntary recall of several lines of powdered formula following concerns about bacterial contamination at its manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Mich., after four infants fell ill and two died.

In May, President Joe Biden announced steps aimed to increase the production and supply of infant formula, including an easing of federal regulations to expedite the supply process, to make it easier for low-income families to purchase infant formula and increase the importation of foreign-made infant formulas.

While donor milk can assist formula-feeding infants temporarily, milk banks do not have a supply sufficient to provide a long-term feeding solution to a full-sized infant, Youngblood said.

Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, which opened in 2008, provides donor milk to over 100 hospitals across 11 states and pasteurizes donor milk for community-based milk banks throughout New England the mid-Atlantic region, including the Women’s Health Resource Center in Lebanon.

Youngblood said these smaller community banks are more convenient for families and help educate the community about the health benefits of feeding on human breast milk.

Milk donations to community-based banks are sent to Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, where the milk is pasteurized to kill pathogens and shipped back to the local banks for dispensing.

Approved donors complete a thorough screening to ensure they are free of infectious disease and are able to still provide enough milk for their own infants. The process includes a phone screening, a blood test and approval from the woman’s doctor.

The Vermont Donor Milk Center, which opened in 2019, is a volunteer-run organization that provides pasteurized donor human breast milk to families across Vermont and northern New York. It was the first independent breast milk bank to open in the United States, meaning that it does not operate under the umbrella of a larger hospital or medical system.

The center receives milk from Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast and directly from donors. Donated milk is kept frozen throughout its storage and is either purchased directly at the center or shipped by priority mail to customers.

A doctor’s prescription is required to receive donor milk, though Foxx said that because of the formula shortage the center is currently waiving the need for a prescription for the first 40 ounces of milk.

Babies feed on average every two to four hours during their initial weeks and months, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amount of breast milk consumed varies between children.

Breast milk banks prioritize donor milk for “medically fragile babies,” such as infants born prematurely or with adverse health conditions, according to program directors, but the centers aim to assist all families so long as the supply allows it.

“We will help formula-feeding families, breastfeeding families and bottle-feeding families,” Foxx said. “We just want to make sure that babies are fed.”

Foxx said that donor milk helps to “fill the gap” during the initial period after an infant’s birth, when some mothers’ bodies are still building up their milk supply or when an infant is still learning how to take milk directly from the breast.

Milk bank directors said they encourage mothers to breastfeed their infants, as opposed to using formula, as medical studies show that breastfeeding is linked to a range of long-term health benefits. However, some women have difficulty producing breast milk.

While most of these women can produce milk, “the question is whether they can produce enough,” Foxx explained.

Milk production can sometimes be obstructed by health issues such as diabetes or a thyroid hormonal imbalance, Foxx said. A previous breast surgery can also disrupt the body’s internal communication to trigger milk production.

Foxx said the price of donor milk is $5 per ounce, or the equivalent of $40 for a standard 8-ounce bottle. The Women’s Health Resource Center charges $15 per 100-mL bottle, the equivalent of $5 per ounce. According to Dartmouth Health, this price covers the cost to process the milk and ship it between centers.

But receiving donated milk through the mail can be more expensive, Foxx noted, because the milk is frozen and must be shipped overnight and through priority mail.

Financial assistance is available to families in need through a variety of grant programs and donated funds.

“We have never turned anyone away,” Foxx said.

Families may pick up donor milk with a doctor’s prescription at the Women’s Health Resource Center during the dispensary’s business hours, which run Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center recommends calling in advance, at 603-650-2600 to confirm they are open.

To learn more about how to donate breast milk, including the application and screening process, visit the Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast website at https://milkbankne.org/donate.

Patrick Adrian can be reached at pfadrian25@gmail.com.

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