At LaVie we hear many stories from moms who deal with milk oversupply issues and how they cope with their breastfeeding struggles. Today we’re highlighting one of our LaVie Mom's inspiring stories about how she turned her oversupply challenges into a positive breastfeeding journey through milk donation.

Elisabeth’s Story

Elisabeth Anderson-Sierra has been diagnosed with Hyperlactation Syndrome. She produces about 225 ounces of breast milk a day, which is a lot of liquid gold! For Elisabeth "this syndrome is far from being desirable because of the many complications, but I have been able to turn something extremely painful and time consuming into something beautiful and life giving. I donate my excess breast milk to micropreemies and local families. To date I have donated well over 100,000 oz. It is such an amazing feeling to be able to help provide a life saving superfood to micro-preemies whose frail digestive system cannot handle artificial formula.”

Elisabeth has donated to a wide range of families in need of breast milk. She’s provided milk to women with complex health issues that have undergone surgeries and were unable to breastfeed during their recovery period, to gay couples who have had a baby through surrogacy and want to reach their feeding goals for their child, to mothers who lost their robust milk supply while returning to work...the stories are endless and the need is endless.

Being a milk donor has been extremely time consuming and exhausting for Elisabeth since she pumps for several hours each day in addition to breastfeeding her own baby. According to Elisabeth "the LaVie Lactation Massager has helped cut down my time on the pump since it helps me express milk much faster."

Elisabeth’s goal is to inspire mothers that may have extra milk to consider donating. "I myself will do all I can with what I’ve been given. One ounce at a time.”

You can follow Elisabeth's journey on her Facebook page One Ounce At A Time or visit her website here.

How To Donate

Donating extra breast milk is truly one of the greatest and most powerful ways women can help other women. Currently there are 18 milk banks across the country providing human donor milk to babies who need it most. These banks are monitored and run by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). The majority of the recipients of donated milk are premature babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) whose mothers haven’t begun lactating yet, newborns with gastrointestinal problems and other illnesses, adopted babies and babies whose mothers cannot breastfeed.

You don't need to be a super producer like Elisabeth to donate your milk. If you have some extra milk and are interested in donating, locate the nearest milk bank closest to you and they’ll guide you through the process. Becoming a milk donor not only benefits the babies who receive your donation, but it can be extremely rewarding for you, just like it has been for Elisabeth.