Woman Suffering From Rare Condition Sets Record By Donating Breast Milk

There are many women who struggle with producing breast milk for their newborns and there are thousands of children whose development is hindered because of lack of breast-feeding. A woman in the US is helping provide breast milk to premature babies, and in turn, has created a world record.

Elisabeth Anderson-Sierra lives in Aloha, US with her husband and her two children. She suffers from hyperlactation which causes overflow of breast milk because her body produces lactating hormones called prolactin in large amounts. The condition bothered her for quite some time but she decided to turn it to help others by donating the breast milk she produced for feeding babies who needed it. Her donations over the past few years ended up winning her a world record.

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Woman Makes Record For Donating Breast Milk

The Guinness Book Of World Records mentioned that Sierra donated 1599.68 litres of breast milk to a milk bank between February 20, 2015, to June 20, 2018. She officially became the holder of the record for donating the maximum amount of breast milk in the world. However, Sierra's journey is not limited to these three years of donation to the milk bank. She has reportedly donated around 10,000 litres of breast milk in the past nine years which includes donations to neighbours, local families and even recipients worldwide.

She recalled that she was once in Puerto Rico in 2017 she came to know about a baby boy who was born premature and lost his mother due to birth complications. His father used to spend almost $200 per day to get breast milk shipped there from the US so that he can survive. When she came to know that his father struggled financially to keep him alive, she decided to help him by shipping her breast milk to their place. She has helped thousands of such premature babies to get the nourishment they couldn't receive.

Sierra produces milk every few minutes which means she has to pump the milk for longer periods of time. Earlier, it was difficult for her to sit for hours to pump milk but when she switched to a mobile pump, she could pump it easily anytime and anywhere. She reportedly said that the pump affects the efficiency of pumping breast milk. She has also collaborated with a company to produce efficient breast milk pumps to help lactating mothers.

Sierra says that all she wanted to do was help out lactating mothers and premature babies with what she could and never thought that she would end up making a world record.