He’d been born about six weeks sooner than he should have. As if that were not enough for the little guy, his tummy hurt, too.

“He was super colicky,” said his mother, Aubrey Smithwick.

However, it was not until later that she would learn the food she was feeding her son was doing more harm than good.

That’s when she learned her son had an allergy to baby formula and could only survive with breast milk.

Mrs. Smithwick had nursed her son for the first nine days of his life while he was in the neonatal care unit at Scott & White Memorial Hospital.

“Because he was so little, he was not eating a whole lot,” she said.

Mrs. Smithwick said her son’s caregivers were trying to help him gain weight so he could go home.

So, they introduced baby formula to his diet because his mother was unable to produce enough breast milk.

His caregivers switched back and forth between breast milk and formula for each feeding, which caused Mikel to be irritable.

A few days later, Mikel came home and starting eating baby formula exclusively. Not long after he came home, Mikel became very ill.

Mrs. Smithwick was referred to a specialist at Scott & White, and after learning about her son’s allergy to the protein found in cow’s milk and baby formula, she tried feeding him prescription formula.

Nothing helped.

Then, quite by accident, she learned from her mother about a non-profit group called La Leche League, and a process called breast milk banking.

“I thought she was completely nuts,” Mrs. Smithwick recalled.

While it may sound crazy, the donation of breast milk for mothers and their infants is common.

In fact, this process has replaced the age-old method of wet nursing.

There are 10 breast milk banks in the United States with two of those located in Texas.

Kim Updegrove, clinical director for the Mother’s Milk Bank in Austin, said her bank uses more than 300 donors who provide milk to fragile babies.

The screening process is rigorous for donors.

After an initial phone interview, donors are required to provide a medical history for themselves and their babies.

Once they are screened, so is the milk.

“We screen for any diseases that may be passed through the mother’s milk,” Ms. Updegrove said.

Some of those diseases are syphilis, Hepatitis B and C, and HIV.

Once donors are accepted, they will pump their own milk and store it until it can be delivered, or shipped for pasteurization.

“Per month, we received about 1,500 ounces,” Ms. Updegrove said. “Some months, it’s more than others.”

The donations are dispensed through about 30 hospitals in states contiguous to Texas. The donations are vital to helping an untold number of babies who might otherwise not survive, she said.

Ms. Updegrove gave high praise to the donors.

“They really have no idea,” she said.

Mrs. Smithwick, however, knows exactly how important those donors are.

She contacted La Leche League and after coordinating between her doctor, the insurance company and the breast milk bank, the first shipment of mother’s milk arrived at her home last weekend.

Within a few hours of the first feeding, she saw a drastic change in her son.

“He is doing awesome,” Mrs. Smithwick said. “It’s been a complete 180.”

To learn more about La Leche League or breastfeeding, log onto http://www.llli.org.