Mother Donates 92 Gallons of Breast Milk following Pregnancy Loss

Amy Anderson; a woman from Caribou, Maine pictured above with her family decides to turn her tragedy into a blessing by donating her breast milk.

In the fall of 2010, Anderson lost her son Bryson at 20 weeks gestation in utero to lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO), before their final appointment to schedule his surgery. Trusting her intuition, she disregarded her physician’s advice to bind her breasts and take Sudafed. Instead, she began to pump the breast milk that would have nourished Bryson. 

“At the time, I didn’t know what I would do with the milk, but I knew I needed to stop trying to prevent my body from lactating,” remembers Anderson. 

She began to research and quickly discovered there was a great need for donor breast milk, especially with regard to the best practices of care employed to save the lives of prematurely born babies.

I wanted to do everything I could by donating Bryson’s milk to help families avoid the heartbreak of baby loss. As I researched, I learned about necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which is an excruciatingly painful bowel disease that causes parts of the intestines to die. NEC is the second-leading cause of death for premature babies. 

Premature babies suffer when given formula, which is incredibly unhealthy for their immature digestive system. Human breast milk is by far the better option. It absolutely saves lives. In this sense, donating breast milk isn’t so different from organ donation. Bereaved lactating women can offer irreplaceable life-saving nutrients in honor of their precious angel babies. 

Amy pump for eight months and donated!  There is a blessing in every trail.