Happy 5th Birthday, Milk Depot!

Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center’s maternity team celebrates birthdays every day. This July, the nurses who welcome 4,500 babies each year are marking five years of Maryland’s only hospital-based milk depot. 

The Milk Depot at Shady Grove gives local moms who breastfeed a way to donate their extra milk. Shady Grove, which partners with King’s Daughters Milk Bank, in Norfolk, Va., serves as a collection site for pre-screened human milk donors.  King’s Daughters ensures the safety of donated milk by screening moms who want to donate, and through laboratory testing and pasteurization. 

As of March 2024, the Shady Grove Milk Depot has collected 175,217 ounces of donated breastmilk. That supply has had a significant impact in the Mid-Atlantic region and for “infants most in need up and down the East Coast,” said Ashlynn Baker, Director of King’s Daughters Milk Bank.

The Milk Depot is especially beneficial for preterm babies and their parents. Breast milk is known to have a variety of health benefits to premature babies, including the introduction of antibodies to fight disease and growth hormones that help babies develop. For parents who have a preterm baby in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, donor milk can help decrease the stress to provide mom’s own milk for baby. Donor milk can be used while mom begins the pumping process, and until she is able to supply enough of her own breast milk to her baby.

Women who are interested donating to Shady Grove’s Milk Depot can call 757-668-MILK (6455) to complete a brief phone interview to begin the screening process.