As we approach Mothers' Day, moms in Sarasota just got a gift from a new breast milk depot where they deliver breast milk to help the babies.
The depot is located on the Venice campus of the Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Before the facility opened, Sarasota moms donating their breast milk to premature babies in the NICU had to drive about 45 minutes to the Sarasota Campus to deliver their milk, especially if they lived in the southern parts of the county.
With a more accessible location, the hospital hopes more lactating moms can donate their extra milk.
"Before having a preemie, I didn't really understand how important it was to donate breast milk," said Brittany Brighenti of Venice.
Brighenti was the first donor at the new facility and started doing so in December when her third child was born prematurely.
"He was born at 31 weeks and they stressed the importance of breast milk," Brighenti said.
She was producing extra milk and said she decided to help other struggling preemies and new moms instead of letting her milk go to waste.
According to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Brighenti has donated more than 800 ounces of breast milk.
"There's so many women that have early birth or emergency C-sections and they are not producing breast milk so for their 'premies' to still be able to get that breast milk is so important," she said.
Health experts say breast milk is equivalent to blood and it increases a baby's survival rate and helps them thrive.
But most importantly, it saves the lives of the smallest patients in an intensive care unit.
"To be able to provide breastmilk when a baby is just developing optimizes their future health as they get older," said Judy Cavallaro, Director for Women's and Perioperative Services at SMH-Venice.
Sarasota Memorial set up its first Milk Depot in 2015 to enhance maternity care and has since provided more than 62,000 ounces of breast milk. This year alone, local moms have donated more than 6,000 ounces
"In Sarasota, we've got a very active neonatal intensive care unit so we have a lot of babies there that can just benefit from such as a wonderful gift," Cavallaro said.
"I will definitely encourage any moms that are overproducing, pumping or have extra [milk] to go ahead and start donating," said Brighenti. "It's an easy process and you'll be helping hundreds of thousands of babies," Brighenti said.
Donated breast milk is typically given to babies weighing under 3 pounds whose moms are unable to produce milk fast enough.
The center analyzes approved donations for calorie and protein content and pasteurizes them to kill any viruses or bacteria. They then test it for contamination before deep freezing and distributing it to babies in need.
SMH's Milk Depots were established in partnership with the Mothers' Milk Bank of Florida. According to the hospital, there is no cost or compensation to donate milk. To cover distribution and basic costs, the donated milk is sold by Mothers' Milk Bank to hospitals. To start the screening process to qualify to be a breast milk donor, lactating moms can call Mothers' Milk Bank of Florida at (407) 248-5050 or visit milkbankofflorida.org.