Brenna

Growing up I was exposed to breastfeeding as I have siblings much younger than me. It was always just a natural part of infant/baby life so I never questioned whether I would try it or not.

My pregnancy was really, really rough but I was determined to at least try to breastfeed. I had read all about supply issues, clogged ducts, poor latching and sore nipples so I felt pretty prepared for challenges to come my way.

When my daughter Hazel was born, we had a slightly traumatic birth so I wasn’t able to try to feed her until she was about 24 hours old. I worried this would hurt our journey, but thanks to the wonderful nursing staff at the hospital, I was able to get it going pretty easily. By the time we came home from the hospital, we had a routine and my daughter very quickly became a “booby baby” as we still call her.

Without realizing it, I had a large over supply. When I went back to work and had to start pumping, I quickly amassed several hundred ounces and that’s when I started looking into donations. I contacted my lactation consultant who helped lead me in the right direction and that’s when I found Mothers’ Milk Bank of Mississippi.

My daughter turned 1 on February 25th and to date, we’ve been able to donate about 1,200 ounces. I plan to do one more donation of about 500 ounces as we round out our breastfeeding journey and I completely stop pumping.

I have been so very blessed in this journey and it has far surpassed my expectations of what I have been able to provide to my daughter and other babies in need. I encourage any mother with an excess of stored milk to donate!