Paige Vidrine, 31, didn’t expect daughter Riley to be born prematurely.
But in February 2023, Vidrine was taken to Medical City Alliance hospital in Keller more than four weeks before her daughter’s due date. In need of around-the-clock care, Riley was taken to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. There, the baby began to receive milk provided by the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, as Vidrine was not yet able to breastfeed.
Mothers’ Milk Bank, founded in 2004, provides premature infants with donated human milk by prescription when their own mother’s milk isn’t available.
While it was a frightening experience, Vidrine trusted the hospital’s staff and the donor milk to ensure her daughter received the care necessary to thrive.
“When your baby is taken into the NICU, your idea of breastfeeding from the beginning is completely changed,” Vidrine said. “Your baby is taken away from you and when they ask if you want them to receive donor milk, your immediate response is yes.”
Like Vidrine, other North Texas mothers rely on Mothers’ Milk Bank’s services to prevent complications and enhance survivability for their preterm or early-term babies.
Over the past few years, the number of babies requiring a stay in neonatal intensive care units has increased in Tarrant County. Now, the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas is experiencing a spike in milk donations that is allowing for broader distribution.
Even though the bank is enjoying an abundance of mothers’ milk donations, the organization is working to keep a steady supply coming in the door, said Amy Trotter, community relations director at Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas.
“We are able to serve basically all our needs right now, but it’s always in our mind,” she said. “We just want to be prepared and proactive.”
Why are more preterm babies being born?
The number of preterm and early-term births in the U.S. have increased from 2014 to 2022. The preterm birth rate, which is a baby born before 37 weeks, during that time period rose 12% while early-term birth, which is a baby born between 37 and 38 weeks, rose 20%, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Babies that are born prematurely can experience short-term health issues, including struggles with bacterial infections or breathing since they aren’t fully developed. In the long term, premature babies may develop asthma, dental issues, developmental delays and stomach problems, according to March of Dimes.
In January, Cook Children’s NICU in Fort Worth reached its all-time high number of patients with 101 babies receiving care. In 2013, Cook Children’s had a monthly average of 55 to 65 babies in its NICU throughout the year. Since then, the unit has seen a steady increase of infants needing neonatal care, with more rapid growth in the past three years, said Megan Maxwell, NICU manager at Cook Children’s Medical Center.
“Within the last year, our daily average has stayed at or above 80 (patients in NICU),” she said. “We teetered on 99 for a while before hitting our record number of babies. We’re busting at the seams.”
Since reaching its record number, Cook Children’s NICU’s daily average has stayed mostly between 90 to 100 patients.
What is causing an increase in the number of premature babies born in Fort Worth?
The growing number could be attributed to the population growth seen across North Texas. Cook Children’s NICU, a Level 4 unit, sees an uptick in patients as other hospitals reach capacity, Maxwell said.
What is a Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit?
A Level Four NICU is designed to meet the needs of premature and critically ill newborns and maintains a range of pediatric medical and surgical subspecialties. A Level Four unit has the ability to care for infants born earlier than 32 weeks.
“There’s so many people moving here right now, and so with more people means more babies being born,” she said. “The NICUs in the area that normally have beds are also full so they’re calling us saying, ‘Hey, do you have a bed? Can you take this baby?’ We take on the babies happily because we’re here to serve the Fort Worth community.”
Dr. Darryl Miao, neonatologist with Cook Children’s, said there are reports linking COVID-19 infections to preterm births.
Infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 during the third trimester of pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of preterm birth. Vaccines against the virus have been shown to be safe and effective during pregnancy. Whether the vaccine reduces the risk of preterm birth hasn’t been clear, according to a study in the National Institutes of Health.
There is more research that needs to be conducted, said Miao.
“COVID could have been attributed to some of the increase, but I think we’re a little bit removed from it,” he said. “It’s hard for me to blame something like that.”
The number of people having children later in life and the increase in the number of people having children through in vitro fertilization could have an impact on the increasing numbers, said Dr. Kaitlyn Stanhope in a CNN article.
Milk distribution across North Texas
Mothers’ Milk of North Texas distributed almost 5,000 more ounces of milk in January compared to January 2023. The milk bank distributed nearly 1,000 less ounces in February compared to February 2023.
The milk bank is partnered with over 60 hospitals across North Texas, including Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center, Medical City Alliance and Cook Children’s Medical Center in Tarrant County.
Over 70% of the milk bank’s donor milk is dispensed to hospital NICUs while the other 30% of the milk is distributed to outpatients, said Trotter.
“We’re serving a very fragile population, so everything is very regulated,” she said.
How does Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas process donor milk?
- Milk arrives frozen from approved donors and is logged into a database and stored in monitored freezers until processing.
- Milk from several donors is thawed before being combined.
- Milk is poured into BPA-free bottles and secured with tamper-resistant lids. Bottles are labeled with a barcode that contains nutritional information, batch number and expiration date.
- Milk is pasteurized at 62.5 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. A third party lab’s analysis ensures the processed batch is bacteria-free.
- Bottles are cooled in ice, then placed in a walk-in freezer until requested.
- Frozen bottles are packed in insulated boxes and transported to local hospitals.
Cook Children’s Medical Center has been partnered with the milk bank since 2004. Since the start of 2024, the hospital’s NICU has already received over 4,226 ounces of donor milk from Mothers’ Milk Bank.
“For the extreme preterm infants that are at higher risk for infection, things like necrotizing enterocolitis, the availability of donor milk is key, and we think it’s been a wonderful, great resource that we’re able to have in our own backyard in Tarrant County,” said Miao.
‘Takes a village’
As the number of preterm babies continues to increase, Trotter believes it’s important to meet the need by encouraging more mothers to donate their extra, frozen breast milk.
“It takes a village to make what we do work,” said Trotter. “We just want to make sure we have the donors coming in and that we are engaging our community to learn about us and understand what we do.”
Elisa Swan, 42, gave birth to her twins prematurely at Baylor Scott & White in Dallas in March 2023. Due to pregnancy complications, she was not able to breastfeed for more than six days while her children were in NICU. The hospital recommended that the children receive donor milk and she agreed, said Swan.
“It was a relief,” she said. “It felt like I couldn’t do anything for my babies, because I couldn’t provide what they needed. It felt like a bit of despair. (My children) received milk for about five days until I was able to get better.”
Swan’s experience with Mothers’ Milk Bank was so great that it inspired her to donate over 220 ounces of frozen milk in October 2023.
“You don’t understand the need of what it does when you donate until you are in the shoes where you need it,” said Swan.
Since the birth of her daughter, Vidrine has remained an active donor with the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas. She wants to keep giving back to the organization that helped her daughter when she was most in need, she said.
“The impact this donor milk has makes all the difference for someone else’s baby,” said Vidrine. “As someone who has been on the other end and received (donor milk), it’s such a blessing.”
Are you interested in donating milk? Click here to see if you qualify and meet Mothers’ Milk Bank’s requirements.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify Dr. Darryl Miao’s comment about reports linking COVID-19 infections to preterm births.
David Moreno is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports on X.
Keyla Holmes is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at keyla.holmes@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.