SMITHFIELD, Va. — The Bruccoleri family has seen their fair share of surprises.
“He was a surprise baby..." Lauren Bruccoleri said while she held her son, Grayson in her arms.
Reaching the age of two, Grayson surprised his parents when they learned he was born with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, which inhibits his speech and intellectual capabilities, as well as his gastro-intestinal system.
Lauren said because of his rare condition, Grayson has a hard time consuming formula. For months, she provided him with breast milk.
“My body just couldn't keep up," said Lauren. "Stress was a factor in lowering my supply. It got the point now in the last several months that I don't have anything left to pump."
This year’s shortage of infant formula skyrocketed the need for donated breast milk at local hospitals, which resulted in a lower supply at hospitals like Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters.
Because of the low supply at the milk bank, Grayson was left with few options to stay fed and healthy.
In and out of formula trials, Lauren said she resulted to social media to reach other moms with extra breast milk.
“I got so many responses, and I had tears in my eyes with the amount of people were responding to me and willing to come from other states. I mean, even across the country," said Lauren. "People responded from Philly, Connecticut...even Texas. We even traveled up to Delaware one day to meet a mom who offered up her own breast milk."
Despite the incredible efforts by people across several states to donate breast milk, Grayson still couldn't consume a lot of it. Because of many mothers' diets and how it impacts their breast milk, Grayson was left with few options again.
That's why the Bruccoleri family relies so much on local milk banks.
"We're taking a gamble every time," said Lauren. "At milk banks, they go through a screening process...so that's the safest way to receive donor milk."
Bruccoleri said they are getting more worried as milk banks continue to seek donations for kids like Grayson.
"Don't let the process of donating milk scare you. I've donated before and thought it would be much more complicated," said Lauren. "Its very simple, actually. You just fill out an application, they call and have a conversation. They screen you for the normal stuff and after that, you become a donor."
Health workers with the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters say they are still in need of breast milk donations for their milk bank. They sent this statement to 13News Now on the latest condition:
"The King’s Daughters Milk Bank at CHKD is a nonprofit, hospital-based donor milk bank established to provide the lifesaving benefits of pasteurized donor human milk to severely premature and critically ill infants in hospitals up and down the East Coast. When supply allows, the milk bank provides treatments to infants with complex medical needs in the home setting. The King’s Daughters Milk Bank is always in need of healthy, lactating milk bank donors to “Share the Health.”
In 2022, this need grew even more critical because of the infant formula shortage, which greatly increased the demand for these invaluable medical treatments. The King’s Daughters Milk Bank currently triages treatments to over 30 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and is limited in its ability to help more outpatient families due to the demand exceeding supply. With more donors, the milk bank would be able to serve more infants in need."
If you, or someone you know is interested in becoming a donor, you can contact the milk bank for more information by calling (757) 668-MILK (6455), or by emailing KDmilkbank@chkd.org to begin the screening process.