Breast Milk Donor Pens Letter to the Preemie She'll Never Meet

Every parent just wants the best for their baby. During that first year, in particular, it can be hard to think about anything else—let alone someone else’s baby. But Abby Frame, a Georgia-based mother-of-two, is making a stranger’s baby her top priority. Specifically, a NICU baby in desperate need of breast milk.

In an emotional post shared on her Facebook page, Frame pens a special note to the baby who will receive her breast milk donation(s).

“Dear NICU babe,” she says, “I don’t know your story. I don’t know who you are. And perhaps I never will. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll do great things in your life. All you need is a fighting chance, right?”

For NICU babies, formula is always an option when mothers are not able to produce enough milk, or any milk at all. But the benefits of breast milk tend to outweigh the ease of formula, especially for high-risk preemies.

Frame is proudly donating over 8,000 ounces of extra breast milk to babies in need.

“So you fight little one. You give it all you’ve got. Whatever you’re going through, fight,” she says. “The 700 hours I have spent pumping and cleaning and packaging this up for you is all worth it.”

Like Frame alludes, donating breast milk isn’t as simple as pumping and giving. All donors who give to formal milk banking services like the Human Milk Banking Association of North America are screened—women who donate milk must be in good health, not taking medications or herbal supplements (with some exceptions), willing to undergo blood testing and willing to donate at least 100 ounces of milk (sometimes even more).

Most importantly, Frame isn’t in it for the recognition. She ends her letter not with her signature, but with the only name the preemie(s) will know her by.

“So take it. Fight. And grow up to be amazing! I believe in you.
Love,
Donor Number: 0000060340”

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