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Giving the gift of life with calcium
Posted: 10.26.2011 at 3:21 PM
Updated: 10.27.2011 at 11:15 AM
Darryl Hood

Darryl Hood is the anchor of WACH Fox News at Ten.

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Nursing moms donate their excess breast milk to help increase the survival rate of premature babies.
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COLUMBIA (WACH) -- Got extra milk? If you’re a nursing mom and the answer is yes, there are organizations and at least one company willing to take that extra breast milk off your hands.

There’s a great need for donated breast milk and South Carolina mom Courtney Young is answering the call. Instead of selling it like some women, Young gives here excess breast milk away. "Instead of wasting it," Young says, "I found a website to send it off to and donate it. So I thought, if I'm not using it, I can donate it and help others."

Young, along with several other women from South Carolina pump and package their extra breast milk and ship it off to Milkin’ Mamas. The California based organization then sends it to Prolacta. The company fortifies the milk and sells it to hospitals which use the milk fortifier to feed premature babies. According to Milkin’ Mama's website "babies live because women like Young give." And because breast milk is a natural, experts say it really does do a premature baby's body good.

 “Human breast milk is extremely important for a premature baby. It has the optimal nutrition that a baby needs to grow,” says Joe Fournell, VP of Operations for Prolacta. He says the company’s milk fortifier gives premature babies a fighting chance. “We can take our milk concentrate and add it to mom's own or donor milk and in essence it's like a protein shake that increases the caloric value to give them (premature babies) the best chance of survival.

As long as there's a need and as long as she can, Courtney Young says she'll continue to donate her precious resource. “It's free for me to produce so; if I can help a little baby that's in need I’d rather do that than sell it to the some joe smith off the street.”

For every milk donation Milkin’ Mamas receives it donates five bucks, on the donor's behalf, to a charity that serves women, children or families in the United States. In the Midlands Palmetto Health Children's Hospital uses Prolacta's human milk fortifier to give premature babies the best chance to survival. To see and learn more about how Prolacta prepares its human milk fortifier, click here.

What do you think about nursing mothers donating their extra breast milk to help save premature babies? Leave your comments below.

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