When Amy Trollinger isn’t driving her Toyota Corolla, she drives white rental van. Not just for fun, but because she needs lots of room to accommodate giant coolers full of frozen breast milk. Trollinger works for the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition, a nonprofit aimed at promoting and supporting breastfeeding. Once a month, she and her colleagues complete what they call a “milk relay.” They pick up donated breast milk at hospitals and health departments across the state.
“I feel like the powerful milkman, saving lives. Because we are,” Trolliner said, while driving the van. “I mean, it’s the donors who are the real heroes.”
Trollinger’s milk relay day starts bright and early in Johnson County. She starts by picking up milk on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro. Then, she works her way to Topeka, where she hands the milk off to a coworker.
Trollinger is honored to participate in the milk relay. She breastfed her daughter and she remembers how precious and important her stash of extra milk felt.
“The fact that these women are giving that, is just incredible. It gets me choked up,” she said. “They’re angels, really.”
Ultimately, the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition’s part of the relay ends in Mulvane, Kansas, just south of Wichita. From there, the Oklahoma Mothers' Milk Bank, another nonprofit, takes over to process and distribute the milk.
The relay is part of a growing effort to expand access to donated breast milk in Kansas and give donors more places to drop off milk. Currently, Kansas can’t keep up with the demand for donated breast milk. The milk is primarily used to help premature and sick babies in hospitals through their first few critical weeks of life if their mother cannot provide milk.
Why donated breast milk?
Sometimes, moms who wish to breastfeed do not make enough milk to do so. Brenda Bandy, executive director of the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition, said this is typically temporary and can happen for a variety of reasons.
“We know that moms who have had cesareans, that their milk can be delayed by a day or two,” she said. “And that day or two, when you have a newborn can feel like a lifetime.”
Donated breast milk, said Bandy, can serve as a bridge until the mother is able to breast feed.
Certain medical issues, like polycystic ovary syndrome or breast surgeries, can keep people who gave birth from breastfeeding, but Bandy said this is rare.
Research shows the nutrients in breast milk are better absorbed by babies than the nutrients in infant formula. Breast milk, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, also provides protection against certain infections, lowers the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, and improves a baby’s brain and eye health.
Bandy said when a mom’s milk isn’t available, donated human milk is the next best option, especially if the baby is underweight or premature.
“Being able to reach for human milk is going to be the healthiest outcome for that infant,” Bandy said. “And we just currently don't have enough of it.”
That’s where the milk relays and Oklahoma Mothers' Milk Bank come in.
The Oklahoma Mothers' Milk Bank
Human milk banks, like the one in Oklahoma, are sort of like blood banks. They screen donors, collect the donated milk, test it for bacteria and pasteurize it. According to the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, there are more than 30 accredited milk banks in the U.S. and Canada.
Kansas City used to have a hospital-based milk bank, but it closed in 2022. Since then, the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition and the Oklahoma Mothers’ Milk Bank have been working together to expand access to donated breast milk. Last year is when the milk relays started.
“We got into this business to really save babies' lives and have better long-term health outcomes,” said Keri Hale, clinical director for the Oklahoma Mothers' Milk Bank.
There are 19 milk depots in Kansas at the moment. Recently, a new one opened at the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment because other milk depots in the area reached capacity. Hale said the goal is to continue adding milk drop off sites for donors and provide more hospitals with donated milk.
Currently, Hale said six Kansas hospitals receive milk from their organization. They sell the milk to hospitals in order to cover the costs of screening donors and processing milk, which she said is very expensive, but the organization encourages hospitals to give the milk to patients free of charge.
The majority of milk goes to hospitals because of how beneficial it is for premature babies. It is used to protect premature babies from a deadly gastrointestinal illness called necrotizing enterocolitis.
“Those first two weeks are really important,” Hale said. “We always say the milk kind of sanitizes the gut or coats the gut and protects it from all of these infections and all these illnesses that can happen in the beginning of life.”
Hale said outside of hospitals, the Oklahoma Mothers' Milk Bank also sells or gives milk to people whose babies have a medical need for it. She said the milk is sold or given away at a sliding price scale.
Additionally, Hale said the milk bank, along with the Topeka Doula Alliance, recently received grant funding to open the first breast milk dispensary in Kansas. Hale said they will give parents struggling with breast feeding “bridge bags” with three bottles of breast milk to help them while they resolve breastfeeding challenges. The baby receiving the milk must have a referral from a lactation consultant or doctor.
“These moms might just need a few bottles,” she said. “And we can give that free of charge.”
A donor’s story
Kansas City, Missouri, resident Chika Igbokwe-Yates is one of the donors for the Oklahoma Mothers' Milk Bank. She drops her donations off at the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas. Igbokwe-Yates said she started donating milk when her first child, Ellyana, was around a year old. Milk had been piling up in her four freezers for months.
“As I was going through my breastfeeding journey, I would say I was an oversupplier,” she said. “And it just got to the point where I was pumping a lot and producing a lot of milk … we didn't really have any more freezer space.”
But Igbokwe-Yates wasn’t always an oversupplier. She said when she gave birth to Ellyana in 2023, she had a rough start to breastfeeding. Ellyana was six weeks early and had to stay in the NICU for two weeks.
“I remember when I had her right after I delivered, they (NICU nurses) coached me on pumping,” said Igbokwe-Yates. “I think I was expecting to see milk coming in right away. And was a little bit discouraged when nothing was coming the first night.”
Igbokwe-Yates said it took a few days for her milk to fully come in. In the meantime, she said the hospital gave Ellyana the breast milk she was expressing first and supplemented with NeoSure, a formula specially designed to help babies gain weight. She eventually switched to exclusively breastfeeding Ellyana. A couple years later, last July, Igbokwe-Yates gave birth to her son, Jamari. She said it was a totally different experience compared to her first birth. Jamari was full term, but she gave birth to him via cesarean section.
“I thought that it was just going to be the same experience, a couple days my milk would come in and all would be good, but it took a little bit longer,” she said. “I did put pressure on myself because with my son, I didn't want him to get formula.”
Igbokwe-Yates said she asked about donor milk at the hospital, since hers hadn’t come in.
“But I think at that time it was so surreal because I was focused on how much he was losing weight and that was really freaking me out,” she said.
They ended up giving Jamari some formula because he was losing weight. Igbokwe-Yates said everything turned out fine and Jamari is healthy, but she wishes she could’ve used donor milk. She wants other moms to know it may be an option.
“Because again, your milk doesn't come in right away when you give birth,” Igbokwe-Yates said. “Knowing that there are other avenues that you could take to nourish your child is important.”
Igbokwe-Yates said she started donating milk with Jamari early on. She said the pumping feels like a full-time job. She pumps for about 20 minutes five times a day, and she said she plans her day around her pumping schedule.
“It's not just the pumping in and of itself,” she said. “You wash the parts, you have to bag the milk. Put the milk in the fridge or freezer and do it all over again.”
In the early days postpartum, Igbokwe-Yates had to set alarms throughout the night to pump.
She’s not sure how much she’s donated with her son yet, but with her daughter, Igbokwe-Yates said she donated almost 25 gallons of breast milk. She’s proud of herself, and she encourages other moms to donate, too.
“A lot of people need that assistance and at times you just all have to come together,” Igbokwe-Yates said. “It takes a village to raise a family.”
Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga reports on health care disparities and access for the Kansas News Service. You can email her at r.shackelford@kcur.org.
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