New England opens first breast milk depot

NEWTONVILLE, Mass. – New England's first breast milk depot has opened in a parenting center outside Boston.

The freezer at Isis Parenting in Hanover, Mass., is a place for moms to drop off breast milk donations for needy infants.

Donations go to Mothers' Milk Bank of New England in Newtonville, Mass., one of a dozen similar operations in North America.

The nonprofit sells milk for $4.50 an ounce, mainly to hospitals to feed premature infants whose mothers can't produce milk.

Executive Director Naomi Bar-Yam says the money pays for health screens on donor moms, and processing and distributing the milk.

Physician John Fiascone from South Shore Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit says the availability of screened milk could keep some parents from buying breast milk online, which he called a dangerous trend.