Remember a couple of weeks ago when I posted about the new Mothers Milk Bank of New England’s quest to win $10,000 from Ideablob? Guess what! They won!!

Thanks to everyone who voted and posted about it elsewhere. Your willingness to vote and spread the word will make such a difference to many babies and families in the New England area! :)

You can read more about the big announcement over on Ideablob and here’s a link to the Mothers Milk Bank of New England.

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I know I posted about this before, but now they are in the finals and your votes really matter because the contest is neck and neck! Please bear with me and read below. :)

A blogging friend of mine, Tanya at Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog, is trying to get a new Mothers Milk Bank started in New England, where no such facility currently exists. To help raise money for this worthy organization, she entered a contest on Ideablob where a monthly winner gets $10,000 for their cause.

The Milk Bank needs money for 1) processing and storage equipment, 2) a “Milk Money” fund to help families whose insurance won’t cover processing fees, and 3) marketing materials to get the word out about the new bank.

The MMB of NE made it into the finals (yay!) but it is falling behind and needs all the votes it can get to win. This is where you come in! Would you please consider taking a minute to click over and vote? You do need to register to vote, but it only takes about 30 seconds.

Vote for the Mothers Milk Bank of New England

Please, please pass this on to any breastfeeding supporters you know. Voting ends on Jan. 31.

Thank you so much for your help!

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While we were shopping at the sale last night (more on our finds later), Ava found a toy workbench with lots of tools on it. Jody saw her lifting up her shirt and putting something on her chest. He wondered what she was doing, but didn’t think much of it. Later, she came over to me and said, “here’s some milk for Julian” handing me an invisible cup. Still later, she handed an invisible cup to our friend Dax to give to his baby Trajan.

I hadn’t seen her putting the tools to her chest and Jody didn’t hear her say it was milk for Julian (but did see her give the “milk” to Dax - which he “drank” himself, hehe), so it wasn’t until later that we were both talking about it that we put the pieces together and figured out she was “pumping milk” for the babies. :) Leave it to my girl to turn a workbench and tools into a breast pump. Love her!

By the way, the pumping for the milk bank is going better for me. I’ve taken your advice (thank you!) and pumped while nursing. It goes much faster that way. Oh, and I’ve been able to express more milk the past couple days, so it seems my supply is meeting the demand of pumping each day. I feel so fortunate that I can do this. :)

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Yesterday morning I sat down with my Lactina breastpump (on loan from the Mothers’ Milk Bank) and pumped my first few ounces of breast milk to donate to the bank.

Ava has been very interested in learning about the whole process of mommy pumping for other babies who’s mommies don’t make milk, and wanted to watch me pump. I thought it would be distracting to me to have her watch, but it turns out she had quite the opposite effect. Jody kept her downstairs for a while as I was getting set up and I could hear her asking if I was pumping yet. Once I’d been pumping for about 5 to 7 minutes and was feeling a tad frustrated because my milk wasn’t letting down (even though I was looking at baby pics of both Ava and Julian on the wall for inspiration), I told him to let her come upstairs. It certainly couldn’t hurt at that point. A minute or so after she walked into the room and started talking to me, my milk let down. Yay! I should have known that having her or Julian (who was napping at the time) in the room with me could only help.

I was only able to pump 2 oz. on my first try, but I am hoping that as I get into the routine of doing it daily (and up my water and oatmeal intake), I’ll be able to produce more. That’s the beauty of supply and demand. :)

Thanks again to Jennifer at The Lactivist for mentioning a couple months ago that Denver’s Mothers’ Milk Bank was having a severe shortage. Without that knowledge, I don’t know that I would’ve been motivated to look into it and start donating.

If you are interested in donating your breast milk, please read this article and contact a milk bank in your area. Many sick or premature babies and their mommies thank you.

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I have to add that seeing Ina May talk Friday night was amazing. I hope to find some time in the next few days to write all about it. I wish I was able to take notes while I was there so I don’t forget anything, but with my bouncing baby boy on my lap, that wasn’t exactly a possibility. ;)

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I wrote a few weeks ago that after learning that the freezers at the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Denver were very low, I had been considering donating my breast milk. I decided to go ahead with the screening process (which is quite thorough, let me tell you) and finally got my paperwork completed and mailed off yesterday. Now I wait for them to review it and, if I qualify, call me to come in for a blood test and to pick up my loaner breast pump from them.

I feel very fortunate and blessed to have had an ample supply of breast milk over the past nearly three years and to have grown one child on it as well as my 4 1/2-month-old who is, of course, still thriving on it alone. I am happy to now have the opportunity to share my milk with other babies in need.

If you are wondering in this day and age, with formula readily available, why milk banks are so important, take a look at this article. The majority of milk from the milk banks goes to babies who are sick or need milk because of medical conditions such as formula intolerance or feeding issues related to prematurity.

Milk banks exist because many babies will not thrive without human milk. Infants with failure to thrive (FTT), formula intolerance, allergies and certain other medical conditions may require real human milk for health and even for survival.

There’s also some very interesting information here about the history of milk banking, including information about the history of wet nursing and artificial feeding (i.e. formulas).

If you are interested in donating* your milk, please visit Human Milk Banking Association of North America to learn more and find a milk bank in your area. Or if you are looking for a worthy place for your tax-deductible donation, please consider making a donation to a milk bank. Milk banks are non-profit organizations and depend on community and private donations to keep the doors open.

Thank you!

*Please note that they require your baby be no older than 6 months when you start donating, so if you are interested, please don’t delay in starting the screening process.

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