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Kentucky Milk Depots Connecting Nursing Mothers with Babies in Need

The Milk Bank

A growing number of milk depots are cropping up in Kentucky as a way to provide more newborns with breastmilk.

The state is now home to eight locations where human breastmilk can be donated, screened, and distributed to fill the void for infants in need.

Rachel Garrison, a lactation consultant with the milk depot at The Medical Center at Bowling Green, said human breast milk can be lifesaving for infants who are premature or ill.

"We know that babies are born premature, they're just not ready, they're not fully baked.  Their digestive systems are immature.  So if we give them something other than breastmilk, which we know is easily digested, it's digested quicker, it protects the gut.  We know that if we give them that, they have a lesser chance of being sick," Garrison said. 

In addition to Bowling Green, milk depots are located in Louisville, Lexington, Mayfield, Pikeville, Middletown, Edgewood, and Richmond.

More information about the milk banks can be found here

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