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A BRIEF HISTORY OF LOCAL MILK BANKING

The first milk bank opened in Vienna Austria in 1909. The first milk bank in the US opened at the Boston Floating Children's Hospital (now part of Tufts-New England Medical Center) in 1911.

There have been numerous milk banks in hospitals and other medical centers throughout New England since that time. The most recent milk bank, located at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, was opened in 1975 and was closed in 2001. Since then there has not been a milk bank in the Northeast region.

In March, 2006 a small group of nurses, mothers, and lactation consultants met to begin the development of the Mothers' Milk Bank of New England. Since then, we have grown to include physicians, researchers, city planners, doulas, midwives and many others who work together to make the Mothers' Milk Bank of New England a reality, to serve babies, families and hospitals throughout New England and beyond.

We expect to begin processing milk by the spring of 2009.