Donated breast milks helps a variety of infants

[Hastings Star Gazette, March 07, 2019] The Regina Hospital Birth Center opened up the Regina Milk Depot in February. Talks about getting a milk depot at Regina began in October after staff at the hospital heard that the Minnesota Milk Bank for Babies was looking for hospitals to get on board.

"I knew that there were other depots around but the only one I really knew was in River Falls. What we were really trying to do is help this community and the surrounding area," Roberta Kieffer, a lactation counselor at the Regina Birth Center said.

Donated breast milk can be beneficial in a variety of cases. Any time a baby would benefit from supplementing with donated breast milk or if they will be briefly separated from their mother, donated breast milk can be used. Other instances could be parents of an adopted child who want to feed them breast milk, or if a mother has had a mastectomy — the list is almost endless, according to manager of the Birth Center, Julie McGary.