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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Melody Schreiber

‘Now, now, now. We need help now’: US warning over breast milk shortage as donations plunge

Jenny Collins and her baby Hayes at the American Fork hospital in Utah in 2019. Milk bank directors say they’re not at a crisis point yet, but they will be if shortages continue.
Jenny Collins and her baby Hayes at the American Fork hospital in Utah in 2019. Milk bank directors say they’re not at a crisis point yet, but they will be if shortages continue. Photograph: Natalie Behring/AFP/Getty Images

Kayla Levering’s twin daughters just celebrated their first birthday, a momentous milestone for a family who just survived a challenging year involving long stays in the neonatal intensive care unit: two months for one daughter, five months for the other.

It was a trying time, filled with surgeries and procedures and complications – and it was made more stressful by the pressure Levering felt to produce more breast milk for both babies. When a nutritionist finally mentioned donor milk, she felt as though a light had pierced the dark.

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