A Texas mother has done the impossible-to set a world record for donating more than 2,600 liters of breast milk-a gesture that saved hundreds of thousands of premature babies. Alyse Ogletree is a mother of three from Texas, and it appears that she has made a unique hobby of giving back to her community and helping others in need by using the abundant milk supply in her body to nourish infants in critical need.
Alyse Ogletree likes to make a difference, even when the contribution cannot be monetary. She has three young children, so she is keenly aware of the burdens of managing a household. But through donating breastmilk, she managed to fulfill her philanthropic instincts and found out that sometimes resources can be just as valuable as money.
“I have a big heart, but at the end of the day, I’m not made of money, and I can’t give away money to good causes over and over because I have a family to support,” Ogletree said in a recent interview with Guinness World Records. “But donating milk was a way I could give back.”
2,645 Liters Donated
Then, in July 2023, she received special recognition when she set the record for the largest individual donation of breastmilk by any person. She donated an astonishing 2,645.58 litres of milk, a quantity sufficient to feed the remarkable amount of premature babies.
She has done that before. In 2014, she set a previous record by giving 1,569.79 liters of breastmilk. Since then, Ogletree continued donating her milk, and all of her record-set donations have been accounted for with Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas.
She set out in 2010, when she was producing an unusual amount of breastmilk after the birth of her first son, Kyle, who is 14 years old now. A nurse at the hospital advised her to help donate the surplus milk for other mothers, whose babies are not getting enough breastmilk.
“I ended up donating everything I had saved up to that point,” Ogletree told Guinness World Records. From then on, Ogletree made it a point to donate after the births of her two other sons, Kage (12) and Kory (7), as well as during her time as a surrogate mother.
“I think I was just as excited about donating again as I was to be growing my family,” Ogletree added, showing her deep commitment to helping others.
Although Ogletree has never been diagnosed with a medical condition that would explain how she has so much breastmilk, she credits a lot of it to her healthy diet and staying hydrated. Her efforts toward maintaining her physical health have allowed her to continue her generous donations year after year.
Apart from the 2,645 liter donated to Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, Ogletree gave out another 2,000 liters to Tiny Treasures Milk Bank and distributed milk to friends in need.
Helping over 350,000 babies
Considering the stature of the contribution, it would seem that Ogletree’s contribution is simply on a scale which is quite amazing. As detailed by the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, for instance, every liter of donated breastmilk can feed up to 11 premature babies. So at over 2,600 liters donated to this organization alone, Ogletree’s milk could have helped nurse more than 350,000 babies. The effort has thus been highly consequential in the lives of the premature infants whose survival was contingent on donations of breastmilk.
“I’ve helped more than 350,000 babies with the money raised to that particular group alone,” Ogletree said to Guinness World Records. Such a statement reveals just how profound her contributions have been in supporting neonatal care.
Outgoing executive director of Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, Shaina Stanks, believes Ogletree is highly dedicated. “Left in awe and inspired by the incomprehensible amount of surplus breast milk Alyse has delivered to fragile little infants, her life-saving efforts remain the undeniable testament to her extraordinary generosity and compassion,” Stanks said in a statement.
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