Community Of Moms Donate Breast Milk to Help Save Twins Born Prematurely

Breastfeeding is hard and it can take a little while for your body to catch up with your baby’s needs. For one mom, helping her babies thrive required the generosity of strangers who donated breast milk to her twins.

Alantria Smith had her twins, A’ja and Kyrie Smith-Cotton, three months early and was having trouble producing enough breast milk for both children. Luckily, her community came to her rescue and donated breast milk for the infants.

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Smith asked local moms in her Abilene, Texas community for help through a Facebook post and the response was overwhelming. As a result, the babies are growing stronger each day.

“People wanted to come donate their own personal stash because they had an oversupply,” Smith told Inside Edition. “It was amazing.”

“It’s been sad, but also amazing to see my babies grow,” Smith told People. “When we are out, a lot of people are like, ‘They are so tiny!’ But to my family, we’ve been around them since birth, so to us, they’re huge now compared to birth.” 

Following the premature birth, the babies had trouble breathing and swallowing, according to Inside Edition. On top of that, Kyrie has a liver disease that will require her to undergo a transplant and A’ja developed a benign tumor on her lip. The stress resulted in Smith producing less breast milk, though doctors recommended she breast feed her children to help them grow, she told Inside Edition.

As a result of all of the donors, the babies are growing stronger every day, Smith told the outlet. They are gaining weight and are more active, she said. And, it’s all thanks to her generous community who donated breast milk to her twins.