Timing is everything, the old saying goes, and the co-creator of a new breast-milk sharing app says she and her business partner didn’t plan the launch of The Drop to coincide with a formula shortage—that’s just how it worked out.
In fact, the idea for an app to connect families with an excess of breast milk with those experiencing a shortage came from a lactation class that The Drop co-founder Kelly Cox, a pre- and post-natal yoga teacher and doula, was leading six years ago.
”I got an email from a client that she had a ton of milk that she wanted to donate. And at the same time, like two minutes later, I got another email from someone explaining to me why she wasn’t able to produce breast milk, and she wanted to know if I could help her,” says Cox, a licensed clinical social worker, who adds that issues with feeding infants is a major contributor to postpartum depression.
As she pondered her clients’ breast-feeding quandaries, Cox got a notification from a dating app she was using. She had a potential romantic match.
“It was just this light-bulb moment,” she says. “I thought this should be available for families, and that’s where it started to grow in my head.”
It remained just an idea until COVID hit, and Cox and a business partner decided to close Bend, her Downtown Mall yoga studio. At the same time, one of Cox’s clients, Celia Castleman, was furloughed from her job.
Castleman has three children whom she exclusively breast fed for two years each, Cox says. She had an excess milk supply and had found informal donation through several Facebook groups to be “clunky” and difficult. Milk banks tend to donate milk to preemies in NICUs.
Recognizing a niche that wasn’t being filled, Cox and Castleman got serious in March 2020. They began working with the Richmond-based app development firm Shockoe, with a goal of launching this coming August 1, which is the start of World Breastfeeding Month.
Then, Abbott baby formula manufacturer issued a recall of several formula products after discovering potential contamination with Cronobacter sakazakii, which sickened four infants and led to two deaths The recall created a nationwide baby formula shortage, and that’s why, Cox says, they moved The Drop’s launch date to July 5.
The app itself is free and will be available for Apple and Android devices. Users can register as a donor or a recipient, enter the age of the child, and share other pertinent information about dietary needs, alcohol consumption, medications, and location. Users can then message each other, with functionality that works much like a dating app.
While both the FDA and the American Academy of Pediatrics have warned about the risks of informal milk-sharing, Cox says the app encourages appropriate safety practices and due diligence by the families who use the app, including asking for recent test results and other evidence about the health of the milk donor.
“It’s kind of informed consent,” says Cox. “The beautiful part about it is we don’t store the milk, we don’t ship it, we never touch it. It’s literally just a platform for families to meet and connect.”
Courteney Stuart is the host of “Charlottesville Right Now” on WINA. You can hear her interview with Kelly Cox at wina.com.