R5 Donor Breast Milk Offered at Pehlps Memorial Hospital Center

Anyone not familiar with the benefits of breast milk might be puzzled by human donor milk banks. But the idea is an old one, dating back centuries. Now, new moms are resorting to the 21st-century version of breast feeding: bottled donor mother’s milk.

Donor milk offers a welcome alternative to formula, a cow’s milk mixture that lacks the antibodies and digestive enzymes that help keep newborns healthy. For moms not able to breastfeed, donor milk is the next best thing, says Lactation Consultant and Nurse Practitioner JoAnn Gould of Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, the first hospital in Westchester to offer inpatient mothers the option of human donor breast milk.

Gould and other local breastfeeding advocates, as part of the Westchester Putnam Rockland Lactation Consortium, Inc., have worked to make this option available to Westchester patients via the Hudson Valley Milk Bank, the first community-based milk bank in New York. The bank provides Phelps with donor milk that is stored in a specialized refrigerator at the bank’s office in Irvington, or connects Phelps directly with the processing facility, Mothers’ Milk Bank at WakeMed Health & Hospitals, in North Carolina.

- Advertisement -

Emilie Jacobs, a 34-year-old medical student, was able to sustain her five-week-old newborn on donor milk provided by the Hudson Valley Milk Bank in May when her baby was not able to latch on to her mother’s breast.

“I had no idea that donor milk was even available,” Jacobs says. “I wanted to keep her on a consistent breast-milk diet until I was able to breastfeed her again. Finding out that this was available was a game-changer.” The milk, donated free-of-charge by lactating women who produce more milk than their children need, costs $5 per ounce.  

Our Women in Business Awards event is November 21!

Our Best of Business event is October 30!

Our CEOs & Business Leaders Golf Outing is August 5!

Our Best of Westchester Party is July 24!

Our Westchester Home Design Awards event is June 26!

Our Wine & Food Festival returns June 4-9!

Our Wunderkinds event takes place on May 23!

Our Best of Business Ballot is open through May 15!

Our Healthcare Heroes Awards event takes place on May 9!

Our Westchester Home Builders Awards take place on April 4!

Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Forum is March 14!

Unveiled: A Boutique Bridal Brunch is February 25!

Holiday flash sale ... subscribe and save 50%

Limited time offer. New subscribers only.