When Rachel gave birth to her daughter Eloise, the plan had always been to breastfeed. “I really wanted to have a successful breastfeeding journey,” she said. “I wanted to really give that golden goodness to her.”
But after an intense labor and four hours of pushing, Eloise was rushed to the NICU. “I got quite scared actually thinking that this is the end of our breastfeeding journey,” she shared. “I didn’t know about donor milk. I didn’t know it was a thing. When she was swept away for the NICU, I really thought like, ‘oh my gosh. What’s going to happen? How is she going to eat?'”
Luckily, Rachel’s care team let her know that Eloise had access to pasteurized donor human milk. “When the doctors asked if I wanted to use donor milk, it was absolutely a no brainer.”
Eloise received pasteurized donor human milk during her NICU stay due to her low blood sugars and a potential infection. “The donor milk was just the absolute perfect medicine for her.”
Fast forward 9 months, and Rachel is now a milk donor with The Milk Bank, helping give a priceless gift to other mothers just like her with infants in the NICU. “I remember being in the NICU and thinking I really hope one day that can be my milk on the on the counter of another NICU room for a special baby.”
Eloise is now a thriving infant who is inching closer to celebrating her first birthday. She’s still breastfeeding, which was what Rachel always wanted. Her milk donor journey has played a role in hitting her breastfeeding goals.
“There’s certainly times when feeding a nine month baby that you’re like, I don’t know if I can keep doing this. You’re biting me. You have lots of teeth. For any number of reasons, breastfeeding is really difficult. For me, becoming a donor made my breastfeeding journey just that much more purposeful that I was feeding my baby and I was pushing through for my baby, but I was also doing it for so many others.”
If you’re interested in joining Rachel as a lifesaving milk donor, start your own milk donor story by submitting our milk donor interest form here: https://www.themilkbank.org/donate-milk/
No milk to give? Consider making a financial gift to The Milk Bank: https://www.themilkbank.org/donate-money
We thank Rachel for sharing her story and joining us as a milk donor to ensure other babies just like Eloise can get lifesaving nutrition when it is needed most.
