Milk banks across the US are short on donor milk. While more parents are using donor milk, fewer are able to donate.

• Formal milk banks across the country are reporting that their supplies of donor milk are low.
• COVID has resulted in parents pumping less and a slight dip in breast-milk donation.

When Deborah Youngblood, executive director of Mothers' Milk Bank Northeast, looks into the freezers at her organization, she feels a bit uneasy. Mother's Milk Bank Northeast provides pasteurized breast milk to the most vulnerable infants — usually preemies — at more than 100 hospitals. The bank has enough milk to meet requests right now, but the supply is running low, Youngblood said.

"We've got just enough supply to meet demand right this minute, but I don't have that backup so a month from now I'm confident we can meet demand," she told Insider.

Mother's Milk Bank Northeast isn't alone. This month, Mother's Milk Bank San Jose posted a picture of bare shelves.

A post shared by Mothers' Milk Bank San Jose (@mothersmilkbanksj)

"We are empty," the caption reads. "This means children that medically require donor milk with a prescription are unable to get the lifesaving milk they need to survive."

Research drives increased demand

The reasons for the shortage are twofold, Youngblood said. On the positive side, demand for donor milk has increased, jumping 15% since March 2021, according to Mother's Milk Bank Northeast.

Research shows that premature infants who are fed breast milk have a lower chance of developing necrotizing enterocolitis, a condition that is often deadly for preemies. Formula-fed preemies are six to 10 times more likely to develop the condition, so breast milk is critical for very low-birth-weight babies.

When premature infants don't have a parent who can supply enough breast milk, doctors may write a prescription for pasteurized donor milk, which comes from formal milk banks.

"Increasingly, the medical community is recognizing the real importance and value of pasteurized human-donor milk," Youngblood said. "While we don't want babies to be in those scenarios where they're in need, we're glad that we're here to help."

COVID clamps down on supply

At the same time that demand for milk is rising, supply is down. At first, donations jumped during the pandemic when parents were suddenly at home with their nursing infants and didn't need their freezer supply. But being home also meant less time spent pumping for parents like Julia Pelly, a North Carolina mom who donates milk through a peer-to-peer network.

"When I was already pumping, it was easy for me to pump just a little extra every time earmarked for donation," Pelly said. Now that she's not pumping regularly, she has less milk to pass along.

Pelly said that she's always willing to take a few minutes to pump in order to donate. Still, Youngblood acknowledged that "there's an exhaustion factor," with the pandemic adding to parents' unpaid labor. That makes it difficult to find time to pump and donate.

In addition, most donors only pump milk for the time their child is nursing. Oftentimes, children nurse for a year or less, so milk banks need to continually replenish their supply of donors. That's hard during the pandemic, where social events and in-person gatherings have been stopped.

Getting involved with milk donation

Youngblood encourages anyone who is interested in donation to reach out to a local milk bank. Milk banks are able to work with potential donors to address concerns, so Youngblood says people should call a milk bank, rather than assume they are ineligible to donate.

Pelly, who is now pregnant with her fourth child, has donated milk after each of her births. She sees it as a wonderful way to support mothers and infants.

"If you have a milk supply greater than your baby needs, this is the moment that we really need you to get into this pipeline so you can potentially save the life of another baby," Youngblood said.