A woman from Co Down has spoken about how "proud" she is to be able to donate breast milk during a health trust shortage.
Kimberley McMaster, 28, from Dromore, was inspired to donate after her son, Herbie, was admitted to hospital with bronchitis at just six-weeks-old in August 2021.
She said this experience "broke my heart" and made her think "if there's a way of helping any little babies and their mothers when they are in a position like that" it's something she would be happy to do.
Over the space of three months, Kimberley was able to donate 3.5 litres - or 35 bottles - of breast milk to babies in hospital NICU.
She told Belfast Live : "I have a seven year old, but I never breastfed her. I had a wee boy in August and I'm breastfeeding him. I had a good supply of milk anyway, so I was breastfeeding him and it was going really well, then he took bronchitis when he was only six-weeks-old, so he was admitted into hospital. That broke my heart seeing him like that.
"I was on a breastfeeding Facebook page and saw a post about donating milk. I just scrolled on past it and never thought anything of it. He was taken into hospital, and I thought I'd like to do something like that to help other kids.
"Not that he needed milk because he was six-weeks-old by this stage, but I had an oversupply, my milk was just going to waste. Seeing him sick, you wouldn't want to see any wee baby in hospital, I thought donating was something I would like to do.
"I applied for it. I thought I had left it too late because you have to apply before they're 12 weeks, and you only have until they're six months to donate. I would have loved to continue doing it, but because he's coming six months I can't.
"But one of the main reasons for doing it was because I was proud of myself for being able to breastfeed him, so I thought I would try it out."
The minimum requirement for breast milk donations is three litres, which equates for 30 bottles, but Kimberley wanted to challenge herself to donate more than this.
The mum-of-two added: "I just took a notion to do it, then I went on their website and it turned out they needed more donors due to a shortage.
"The minimum requirement is three litres which is 30 bottles. But in my own head, I'd wanted to get to the four litres, but my milk had dried up over Christmas as I had slacked a wee bit on the pumping. So I only got to 3.5 litres."
For other mums who may be thinking of donating, Kimberley said they should "absolutely go for it" if they can.
She said: "It's an amazing feeling to be able to do that, as you know it's going off to the wee babies in hospital, it's off to the lab being tested now.
"If you have a really good supply and have enough to be able to breastfeed your own child as well as help another baby, who's in a position where they may have been born early or whatever, it is a really nice feeling."
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