Mother Donates 90 Litres of Breast Milk After Her Son Spends 16 Weeks in Intensive Care

After her newborn son spent 16 weeks in intensive care, one mother decided to turn a difficult experience into a way of helping other families.

Emma, from Shropshire in England, has donated 90 litres of her breast milk to the Human Milk Bank at Birmingham Women’s Hospital. She hopes to reach 100 litres by her son’s first birthday in November.

A Difficult Start for Her Son

Emma’s son Bert was born in November 2025 with Down’s syndrome and oesophageal atresia, a condition in which the food pipe does not connect normally to the stomach.

At just three weeks old, Bert developed sepsis and was admitted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He eventually spent 16 weeks in intensive care.

During that time, Bert was unable to drink his mother’s milk and was kept nil by mouth while receiving intensive medical care.

Turning an Unexpected Surplus Into Help

As Emma continued expressing milk for her son, she began thinking about other babies whose mothers were struggling to provide enough milk.

She decided to donate her surplus to the human milk bank, where donated milk is processed and provided to premature and sick babies whose mothers cannot breastfeed or express enough milk themselves.

Emma now spends around 30 minutes expressing milk at a time, up to four times a day. The milk is frozen before being collected and transported to Birmingham for testing and pasteurisation.

Helping Babies Across the Region

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 premature and sick babies during the previous year.

Staff at the milk bank say demand can often exceed supply, making regular donors especially important.

Consultant neonatologist Dr Gemma Holder explained that donor milk can give mothers of premature or sick babies time and support while they establish their own milk supply.

A Personal Reason to Give Back

For Emma, donating milk has a deeply personal meaning because she knows what it feels like to have a baby receiving intensive medical care.

She said she wanted to give something back to the NHS after the care her son received during his long hospital stay.

Her goal is now to reach 100 litres before Bert turns one — a milestone that would turn an extremely difficult chapter for her family into something that has also helped other newborns and their parents.

Sources

• BBC News — “Why I’m donating 100 litres of my breast milk”
• Human Milk Bank at Birmingham Women’s Hospital