Mother’s Milk Bank of North Texas adds to local streetscape

Love this - new Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas building lauded for its consideration of local streetscape.

Pic from ForthWorthology.com

"Fort Worthology - Mother’s Milk Bank Opens New Magnolia Facility: A unique new storefront has opened up on Magnolia Avenue just east of Hemphill in the Near Southside – the new home of Mother’s Milk Bank of North Texas.
...This important facility has a new home on Magnolia, and it’s a wonderful example of street-oriented, pedestrian-scaled remodeling. ..."

Hospitals, nurses, moms, activists, all play a role to protect and support breastfeeding

This excellent patch.com article illustrates how the work being done to protect and encourage breastfeeding is broad and all-encompassing. Here we see the protests at Target, informing moms of their rights to nurse in public, efforts to get infant formula freebies out of hospitals, support for lactation programs in hospitals, the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, and the need to seek funding for human milk donations - they are all part of the same effort: to protect and support breastfeeding. Doctors, nurses, lactation consultants, midwives, moms, activists - all play a role. (And good work, Sarasota Memorial, for hooking your story into the current media angle of nurse-ins at Target.)

"Sarasota Memorial: Breast-feeding Yes, Formula No - Sarasota, FL Patch: Sarasota Memorial: Breast-feeding Yes, Formula No
Sarasota Memorial Hospital is concentrating its efforts to educate new mothers about the benefits of breast-feeding and has stopped giving formula to new moms.
By Charles Schelle

Ever since the breast-feeding incident at a Houston Target store, feeding babies by breast has garnered plenty of comments from folks both for and against feeding in public...."

Utah moms donate a ton of milk (and why are we measuring human milk donations by weight?)

University of Utah's donor milk bank has collected over 2,300 lbs of milk (Yes, that's pounds. Why are we measuring human milk donations in pounds now?) from about 30 donors.

Co-director Christy Porucznik is paraphrased in this Salt Lake Trib article as saying she doesn't think Prolacta's recent foray into the state, which has a relatively high breastfeeding initiation and duration rates, has made an impact on supplies.

Which is interesting since Prolacta's Helping Hands milk bank, which to collects milk for free from women to feed the Prolacta product line, said in November they received 50 applications from Utah moms after they launched their recruitment campaign. Did the donors change their minds once they learned their milk would be going to a for-profit company instead of a the non-profit HMBANA Mother's Milk bank?

At any rate, HMBANA president Jean Drulis says they collected 112,500 pounds (pounds?!) of milk from 3,000 women last year.

"Utahns donate one ton of breast milk to needy infants | The Salt Lake Tribune mobile edition: Utahns donate one ton of breast milk to needy infants

BY HEATHER MAY
The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Dec 28 2011 03:44PM
Updated Dec 28, 2011 09:22PM

Utah reached a milk milestone this month.

Nursing women have donated more than one ton of breast milk to a nonprofit milk bank since the University of Utah opened its milk donation center in February."

Related HMN blog posts:
US company Prolacta milks donors, charity partners - Aug 2012
Denver Mother's Milk Bank, Prolacta vie for Utah #humanmilk donations - Dec 2011

Glasgow babies need human milk

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is calling for moms to donate human milk to meet increased demand. The milk bank coordinator Debbie Barnett says they're looking for more donors within two hours of Glasgow. This makes sense - shipping milk longer distances is expensive and it should be unnecessary - for every preemie born needing extra milk there must be dozens of other babies born on or around the same day whose mothers have the potential to donate. It seems practical and sustainable that the UK's network of 16 milk banks is encouraging donations from mothers who live in the local area.

(Note, the Evening Times article below requires free registration to view completely.)

"Milk plea to keep babies fit and well - Evening Times | News: Milk plea to keep babies fit and well

By CAROLINE WILSON

Evenign Times

23 Dec 2011
HEALTH chiefs are urging new mums in Glasgow to help some of the city’s most vulnerable babies this festive season."