Central Texas woman hits breast milk donation milestone

BUFFALO, Texas (KWTX) - A local mom hit a major milestone, donating more than 5,000 ounces of breast milk, and she’s encouraging other moms to consider donating, too.

Aubrie Jackson of Buffalo says it’s not anything she ever planned on doing when she delivered her baby boy, Gatlin, but she stumbled upon the opportunity when looking for a way to make space in her full freezer.

Aubrie donated breast milk to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center in Waco from May 2020 to January of this year providing enough milk for 15,669 meals for babies and moms she’ll never meet.

“Whenever I finished donating, I was just curious to see how much,” Aubrie said.

“They told me the amount and told me it was like 15,600 meals for babies, and I just thought ‘holy smokes.’”

Aubie said the process was easy.

She first had to have a blood test to make sure she was a good candidate.

After that, she simply labeled her milk and brought it to the Waco hospital which then delivered the milk to Mother’s Milk Bank in Austin.

From there, the milk bank sent her milk to NICU’s all over the state of Texas to help the tiniest and sickest of babies survive.

“It was just such a cool feeling to know that I helped that many kids,” the mom said.

“It kind of blew my mind. I wasn’t trying to do that on purpose, I just needed some extra room.”

While Aubrie donated at the Waco hospital, Temple is also an option.

“We are a donor site which means we have a special freezer that is located in our nursery and those moms who have an overabundance supply and want to donate some of their breast milk they can drop off their milk supply here,” Angela Steinkamp, lactation consultant with the hospital, said.

Steinkamp said there are many reasons mothers and babies need the milk.

“They’ve done the research on it and it’s what’s supposed to be there. It’s so much easier on their intestinal system. It’s so much easier for them to absorb it and digest it and some of those mothers are unable to pump or they don’t have that milk supply right away or some are on medications and some just can’t pump with their lifestyles,” Steinkamp said.

Aubrie says while she’s done breastfeeding and donating milk made for her now 15-month-old son, she hopes to one day have another chance to give.

Steinkamp says moms like Aubrie are a blessing to new babies and new moms.

“You’re just such a blessing,” she said. “You just have no idea what a blessing you are to those babies but also to those mothers because those mothers want to be able to provide and are unable to so you’re a double blessing.”

For more information or to donate go to milkbank.org.

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