Mother Donates 100 Litres of Breast Milk After Her Baby Spent Months in Intensive Care

Emma, a mother from Shropshire in England, is aiming to donate 100 litres of breast milk to premature and seriously ill babies after her own son spent months in intensive care.

Her son Bert was born in November 2025 with Down syndrome and oesophageal atresia, a birth defect that prevents food from reaching the stomach. At just three weeks old, he developed sepsis and was later cared for in intensive care at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Turning a Difficult Experience Into Help for Other Families

While Bert was unable to drink his mother’s milk during his time in intensive care, Emma continued expressing milk. She realised that other mothers might also struggle to provide enough milk for their babies.

She decided to donate the excess milk to the Human Milk Bank at Birmingham Women’s Hospital.

Since then, Emma has donated around 90 litres, or about 160 pints, of breast milk. She hopes to reach 100 litres by Bert’s first birthday in November.

How the Milk Reaches Sick Babies

Emma expresses milk using a breast pump for around 30 minutes at a time, up to four times a day. The milk is placed into storage bags, frozen and collected by the Blood Bikes charity before being transported to Birmingham.

At the milk bank, donated milk is checked, pasteurised and stored until it is needed by premature or seriously ill babies.

A Lifeline for Families

The Human Milk Bank at Birmingham Women’s Hospital is the only facility of its kind in the Midlands. It supplied about 1,900 pints of donated milk to babies across the region during the past year.

Demand can exceed supply, meaning the service regularly encourages eligible mothers with excess milk to consider becoming donors.

Consultant neonatologist Dr Gemma Holder said donor milk can give parents who cannot breastfeed more time and space while they wait for their own milk supply to develop.

Emma Wants to Give Something Back

Emma said the NHS had provided exceptional care for her family during Bert’s illness. Donating milk became her way of helping other parents whose babies were facing similarly difficult circumstances.

She described the opportunity to help other mothers and newborn babies as a privilege.

A Personal Experience Helping Other Families

Emma’s story began during one of the most difficult periods of her family’s life. Her son needed intensive medical care, and she could not feed him as she had expected.

Instead of allowing the unused milk to go to waste, she chose to share it with other babies in need. Her goal of reaching 100 litres by Bert’s first birthday has turned a deeply personal experience into a source of support for families across the region.

Sources

• BBC News — “Why I’m donating 100 litres of my breast milk” — October 1, 2026.
• Birmingham Women’s Hospital — Human Milk Bank information.
• NHS England — Breastfeeding and donor milk guidance.