Life

He came into this world weighing a mere 2 pounds, 15 ounces.

Born at just 31 weeks gestation, baby Isaiah Staton was transferred from the Springfield Regional Medical Center Birthing Center to Dayton Children's Medical Center, where he is in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Unable to provide her son with breast milk, Isaiah's mother, Amber Staton of Springfield, was given the option of feeding her baby with donor breast milk, or infant formula, while in the NICU.

"I had never heard about it," Staton said. "I was curious. Will it hurt him? Will it help him?"

Once the many undisputable benefits of human breast milk — such as easier digestion — were explained to her, Staton opted to allow it.

Isaiah has now gained about 2 pounds and is thriving.

Happy with her decision to feed Isaiah donor breast milk, Staton is eager to bring her baby home.

"It's a good choice if you can't give milk yourself," she said.

"This (donor milk) is not commonly heard of," said Mari Jo Rosenbauer, nurse and lactation consultant at Dayton Children's.

"There is always a bit of an 'eew' factor, but once moms are aware of the benefits, they like the idea."

Donated breast milk is typically used at Dayton Children's on premature babies weighing less than 1,500 grams. A doctor's prescription is required for a baby to receive the milk.

"Human breast milk is species-specific," Rosenbauer explained. "Some babies reject cow's milk."

Cow's milk is typically the base ingredient for most infant formulas.

Dayton Children's keeps approximately 500 bottles of pasteurized donor breast milk in their freezer.

"Pasteurization makes it sterile, but does not ruin the good stuff," Rosenbauer said.

Dayton Children's is a breast milk donor drop-off location, and Ohio is home to one of only 11 human milk banks in North America.

The Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio, in Columbus, is a nonprofit organization that got its start in 2004.

"Dayton Children's hospital volunteered to be a drop-off site (for donors). They even raised the money for their own freezer," said nurse Georgia Morrow of the Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio.

Donated breast milk is transported to the Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio for processing.

Soon, the Ohio Mothers' Milk Bank will mark its 750th donor mother. Milk donations come from as far away as Madison, Wis.

When the facility first opened, an average of 5,000 ounces of breast milk was shipped out monthly. Today, about 12,000 ounces are shipped.

Housing two large freezers, the Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio pasteurizes 200 to 350 3- to 6-ounce bottles of breast milk each day, but keeping up with the growing demand is challenging.

"This is becoming a standard of care," Rosenbauer said.

Grant Hospital in Columbus, which initially ordered donor breast milk from a bank in Texas, now funds the Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio.

Each donating mother is carefully screened and is required to have a blood test before her milk can be used.

Many donating mothers happen to be producing excess milk, thus they choose to donate to help other babies in need.

However, about 8 percent of donors are bereaved mothers.

Leslie McKee of Lancaster, lost her son, Aiden, just 36 hours after his birth. She said she knew immediately that she wanted to donate her breast milk.

"Early on, many people expressed disbelief about my decision to donate our milk, concerned that pumping would be incredibly emotionally painful for me," McKee said.

"Donating our milk helped me to prove that Aiden was not an accident, that it wasn't a mistake he was conceived and born. It allowed him to live on and help so many other babies who were fortunate enough to survive, but were in need of our help."

McKee refers to the breast milk as "our milk" because it would not have been produced without the birth of her son. It was difficult for McKee to stop pumping her breast milk for donation.

"It was the last direct link to my pregnancy experience. I saw it somehow as an extension of my son. As long as I was still pumping, then Aiden was in some way still living on."

"For some moms, it's a legacy for their baby," Morrow said. "It's very healing for them."

McKee, who now has a healthy son nearing 2 years old, said although she wishes Aiden had had the chance to thrive on her milk, she is glad to have had the opportunity to share his gift with babies in need.

"Pumping our breast milk for donation actually ended up being very emotionally healing for me. I can't imagine not having the opportunity to do that. I was doing good in Aiden's name."

Morrow said the involvement with the donation of human milk allows her to view the continuum of mothers helping mothers.

"It's a joy. It's so touching to have so many people help these little babies," Morrow said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0356 or dmjordan@coxohio.com.

World Breast Feeding Week

When: Aug. 1-7

More information: Visit www.worldbreastfeedingweek.org

Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio

For more information on the Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio or how to become a donor. Call (614) 544-0810 or send e-mail to milkbank@ohiohealth.com.

For more information on human breast milk banking, visit www.hmbana.org.