wonderful idea. mother's milk is still best for newborn babies. i hope other hospitals would do this kind of milk banking service too.

Great idea. Congratulations on your wining! I also have an idea about helping the babies at: http://ideablob.com/ideas/1599-A-Website-for-Exchaning-Selling

Congratulations on winning the contest!! What a great idea and for such an important cause.

Why is this needed some ask - My son was born at 28 weeks and my breast milk is large factor in why he is now a healthy 32 month old. He needed to have my milk fortified as he fed through a tube and later nursed at my breast while still having supplemental feedings of fortified milk. He couldn't tolerate most hypoallergetic formulas, let alone supermarket formula. His digestive problems still impact his breathing problems - but it was the breast milk that helped him most. I struggled with my supply and shed many tears while pumping in the middle of the night. Yet it didn't compare to how my son struggled to eat and breath during his 3 1/5 months at the NICU. At least I knew I was doing all I could for him. I cried with another NICU mom who just couldn't provide milk for her sick chil…mored. She didn't need pressure to BF, she needed a milk bank in New England. I know that my milk is one reason why my son's immune system is approaching normal and hope other preemies and sick children can benefit from this service. How can non-lactating people help support this program?

Great Good

I am so excited that you are doing this. I work in the field of HIV/AIDS and more and more HIV+ women are having children and would like to breastfeed so I am glad that this Milk Bank can be a potential resource for them.

Much need.Best of luck

Best wishes !!! Sending you love and support. I am very blessed I can breastfeed my baby. We need this to support the woman who can't. Let me know if you need anything. Stephanie Watson-Campbell CLC New York City

A good idea...good luck!

I'm glad to see someone stepping up and doing something about this. I wish I had more resources to help. You may want to consider contacting the pump manufacturers for donations. I challenge more men to get involved and show your support. A Dad BF supporter in NH

What a great idea. I am the mother of two breast fed babies, one born 10 weeks early and I totally support a NE milk bank. I was fortunate enough to make a great supply by pumping for my preemie but know there are many moms who can not. Best of luck!

I found this through reneeholiday's website post and I have since copied, pasted, and e-mailed it wherever I could for support. Good luck!!!!

My daughter has given birth to 3 preemies,in the last 4 1/2 years, the last one weighing only 2lb.7oz. All of them were in the hospital for several weeks, and my daughter had to spend hours a day pumping to get enough milk to feed them. She was already in a weakened state because of high blood pressure(which had caused her to deliver early in the first place.), so it was extremely difficult for her to get enough milk for the babies.She was exhausted all the time. SUPER IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!

This endeavor is necessary for the health of our premature newborns. LaurieO

This is a Great idea! There always seems to be a crisis somewhere, we can't perdict the future. Good Luck!!

Good luck. From an Aussie breastfeeding mum.

Excellent and timely endeaver; about time !

"Brest" of luck! ;) Breastfeeding got me and my dd through my husband's deployment, one nursing, nurturing session at a time.

You got my vote! I was fortuante to breastfeed both my kids but some mothers (and newborns) aren't so lucky!

Yes we need more milkbanks hopefully this one and hundreds like it are started and flourish

Wonderful, wonderful idea! Kudos to you for doing something so important.

Nice idea get mothers milk at no charge and charge the hospitals a premium for the milk Should make lots of money

best of luck from a HK breastfeeding mom

As a grandma of a newborn, and a longtime La Leche League Leader, I know how important mothers' milk banks are.

yea! go mommy milk!!! best wishes from fort lauderdale. we'll link on our site <http://21stCenturyParenting.com>

Best of luck with this great cause!

GOOD LUCK WITH THIS GREAT IDEA.GEORGIA SUPPORTER!

As a mom of 3 soon to be 4 I have breastfed all of my children as long as possible, a member of La Leche a full supporter of donating breastmilk, anyway that I can help I will do so. Keep pushing for all those little babies!!!!!!

best wishes from a hong kong brestfeeding mom!

Wonderful, wonderful idea! Best of luck in this important endeavor.

Cool idea! Good luck!

Banked milk is 'medicine' for premies and many other babies in the NICU whose Mom's can't or won't provide their milk for their baby. This is a life saving mission you are on and I support you heartily! Imagine a world where lactating Mom's shared their milk and no baby ever had to have artificial milk! Okay, I know that is a fantasy but it is a nice one isn't it?

Just got this from Amygeekgrl and it's my pleasure to pass this wonderful idea on to my readers and contacts!!! Thank you for doing this!!! :) Much luck and success! :)

How I wish this was here when we adopted our first son who was allergic to cows milk. It was a tough first year for him.

Blogged about this and passed it on to several message boards. Best of luck! :)

this is a great idea for the babies.

This is so wonderful for babies!!!

This is a great support for breastfeeding moms and adoptive moms and best for humanity. Greater access to the gold standard breast milk for infants can vastly improve the health of these babies.

GOOD LUCK!!

I fully support this idea and think that there is nothing better than our breast milk for babies, especially those that are in critical condition and without their mothers. My own concern is for how much of the vital energy, nutrients, and digestive enzymes are lost through the pasteurization process. The screening component is great and necessary. Is there a way to freeze the milk promptly enough and keep it without it going bad? Would this be against health and safety standards? Probably. Regardless, this is an idea well worth developing and I stand behind it 100%!!! Thank you to those who have been instrumental in cultivating this gift of an idea.

This is excellent. I gave birth to a newborn that only lived for two weeks in 2005. However I pumped milk from birth until his passing. Hoping one day he would be strong enough to drink it. He later passed and I had no where to send all that milk that I had frozen. The hospital and I called several places and there were no milk banks in Michigan. So I was forced to throw it out. I wished that I had known about other milk banks. This milk is definitely a gift from GOD. I pray that all mothers would at least try to breast feed their babies. May GOD bless you in your endeavors to be successful.

This is so needed! am praying you win this one! Wish there had been a milk bank around where we were in '97 when my DD was born.. we would not have had the problems we did. Thanks for all your hard work and I hope that more people help you out.

on our little island off the coast we do this all the time. How cool to make free-range organic momma's milk available on a much larger scale. peace.

Breast is best! I hope this idea wins!

Excellent Idea! Great work,I will forward this to all I know!

Good Luck!

As a board member of MMBNE I thank-you all for your comments and support. It is important work we all do and it will happen soon. I will be speaking at the N.H. Breastfeeding Task Force conference on June 2 at Dartmouth Medical Center about the milk bank. Jane .

This is so important- best of luck- what a worthy cause.

Good luck! This is a great idea

Good luck in this endeavor. I hope you win.

Good Luck!!! As a donor myself I think this is awesome. I am so thrilled to see these babies get the best possible start in life.

If only you'd been around when I had to dump all my frozen milk in 2003... Good luck! This is a wonderful idea, and I'd love to see it take off.

Good Luck!! I hope you win!! Milk Banks are SOO important. I would love to donate next time around...

good luck, i wish in israel we would have one!

i am mother to 5 and i breasfed them all. i am praying that this wonderful idea wins. i am always moved when people decide to do something to help children. you are making a real difference. godd luck and God bless.

I hope you win!

i've been trying to figure out how to start one here in toronto - doesn't make sense we have a world-class children's hospital (Sick Kids') but no milk bank!? i thinik education and awareness is also critical - so many ppl think breastmilk somehow "turns off" at x months or years of age when the reality is that even toddlers and children with leukemia would reap huge benefits: their immune systems are destroyed by the treatment and breastmilk contains antibodies specially geared to protecting the child without an immune system!

To the poster who asked what was wrong with formula - many babies do well on it, however there is no substitute for breastmilk. For premature and sickly babies, that can literally be the difference between life and death. This is such a worthy cause. I just got done pumping for my daughter, and if this milk bank had been open, I'd have likely pumped longer in order to have some to donate. Good luck and I hope to be a donor next time!

I'm the nurse/ LC and board member of the MMBNE that arranged for that milk for her 23 wkr. We need this milk bank in the New England area so many more baby's can benefit from it's bounty. Susan