Texas resident Alyssa Ogletree has shattered her own record for the largest individual breastmilk donation, supplying an astonishing 2,645.58 litres to those in need. According to the Guardian, Ms Ogletree, 36, previously held the Guinness World Record in 2014 with a donation of 1,569.79 litres, and has now surpassed her achievement, earning recognition from the esteemed organization for her incredible contribution. According to the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, a single litre of breastmilk can sustain 11 premature babies. Based on this calculation, she estimated that her donations to the organization have helped over 350,000 babies.
”I have a big heart, [but] at the end of the day, I’m not made of money and can’t give away money to good causes over and over because I have a family to support. But donating milk was a way I could give back,”, she said in an interview recently published on Guinness World Records’ website.
She added: “If the three per ounce is accurate, I’ve helped over 350,000 babies. This record is for just under 89,000 ounces, but I also did around 37,000 to Tiny Treasures, and probably another couple hundred to close friends.”
Ms Ogletree started donating breast milk in 2010 when she gave birth to her son Kyle, now 14. After discovering she was producing an unusually large amount of milk., a nurse suggested donating the excess to help mothers struggling to feed their babies. This sparked Ogletree’s passion for helping others through breastmilk donation, paving the way for her record-breaking contributions.
After Kyle, she continued donating milk following the births of her two younger sons, Kage (12) and Kory (7). She also donated milk after serving as a surrogate mother.
She now has four children and continued to pump after her babies stopped drinking milk from the bottle. “I pumped every 3 hours, even overnight, for 15-30 minutes. After pumping, I froze my milk until my freezer was full. Next, I took it to the milk bank, where they would measure the frozen milk on a specially calibrated scale,” she added.
Ms Ogletree was never diagnosed with any condition that would explain her overproduction of milk. She said: ”I drank lots of water all the time, I stayed consistent with my pumping schedule, I ate healthy, I worked hard to pump like I did because I loved knowing how many babies I would be helping.”
She now wants to spread the word about donating breastmilk, as she thinks that like her, other women might not realize they could be in a position to help other mothers and their babies.