ALOHA, Ore. — An Aloha woman is now in the Guinness Book of World Records for producing and donating a mind-boggling amount of breast milk.
Elisabeth Anderson-Sierra’s record is just over 54,000 ounces, but only accounts for donations she made to one milk bank over three years. It's just a fraction of the 350,000 ounces she’s produced over the last nine years and counting.
“The overall totals kind of blows my mind,” said Anderson-Sierra. “I'm humbled, I'm honored, I don't believe it.”
Anderson Sierra began producing milk five-months before her eight-year-old daughter was even born. Doctors diagnosed her with hyperlactation syndrome and said when she's ready, her most feasible treatment option would be a double mastectomy. In the meantime, Anderson-Sierra’s body continues to produce around two gallons of milk every day— much more than she needed for her two daughters and now her eight-month-old son.
Early on, Anderson-Sierra learned she could donate her milk, an option she embraced with great purpose. She ships it to moms all over the country and also shares some with a milk bank. They use it to create a product to sustain preemies and micro preemies.
“It is literally saving their lives,” said Anderson-Sierra.
When Guinness World Records first invited her to participate, Anderson-Sierra said no, before recognizing the good it might do for others.
“I was like, this is perfect,” she said. “We need to get the message out there to normalize breastfeeding, normalize milk sharing, especially right now with the formula shortage.”
Anderson-Sierra’s husband said what most people may not understand is the daily sacrifice his wife makes to continue producing, packaging and sharing milk.
"It's about an eight-hour process every day," said David Sierra. “I'm really proud of her that she's gone down this road, it's a journey of love for her. It's something that's time-consuming and it takes a lot of emotional and physical strength for her to do this. It's a quality that she has that I truly, truly admire.”
Anderson-Sierra said the small, portal breast pump she uses six times a day, helps a lot.
“I have definitely gone to the grocery store and been pumping because I needed to,” she said.
In fact, the company that makes the pump she uses, BabyBuddha, hired Anderson-Sierra as their director of lactation services. She earned her lactation consultant license and also documents her journey on social media pages called One Ounce at a Time. Anderson-Sierra hopes that women who are breastfeeding, no matter how much milk they're producing, will find comfort from her advice.
“Just know that what they are doing is enough, what they are doing is beautiful that we are all so unique,” said Anderson-Sierra. “I just encourage them to love your journey no matter what it looks like, whether it’s one ounce or one-hundred ounces.”