Donor Stories
“My name is Ahram and I’m a Tiny Treasures donor. My little family is comprised of my husband Josh and our 14-month old daughter, Charley.
When Charley was first born, my milk came in late. She lost almost a whole pound in only one week. As a result, my doctor recommended that I supplement with formula.
At first, my milk supply was not sufficient, so for the first two months we had to supplement every other feed with formula. In addition, Charley had a significant lip tie and had difficulty latching. We tried syringe feeding and even bought a Medela Special Needs Feeder. But in spite of this little setback, I pumped religiously every three hours, day and night for two months, and did everything I could to help increase my supply.
Then, not only did my milk increased, but I started to overproduce more than what Charley was drinking! I had more milk than what I knew what to do with.
That was when my coworker told me about Tiny Treasures and their mission to help preemie babies in the NICU. At that moment, I knew my excess milk could help other babies in need, so I decided to join. Tiny Treasures allowed me to both help preemies in need and help me overcome my condition. For the first 8 months, I suffered from postpartum depression - being tied to a pump every three hours was grueling and lonesome, but knowing that it all served a greater purpose, helped me realize I was doing something useful outside of my family.
So my message to incoming donors is to keep it up! You can only do this for a short while. Knowing your milk helps tiny little preemies is so rewarding and fulfilling - so pump as long as possible! Even though it's a lot of work, it's worth it!” -Ahram LH.
Milk donated through Tiny Treasures Milk Bank will be used by Prolacta Bioscience® to make human milk nutritional products including a human milk-based fortifier, human milk caloric fortifier, premature infant formula and standardized donor milk sold to hospitals for use in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) for very low birth weight premature babies. All Prolacta products are made from human breast milk.