By Anne Gonzales, The Sacramento Bee 

While some kids don't like to share, 4-month-old Adelheid Stalder was downright docile while her mother piled packet after packet of frozen breast milk in an ice chest – a total of about 500 ounces – to nourish other babies.

"I make more than my fair share," said Andrea Stalder, 29, of Sacramento. "I make more than she can eat, about 8 ounces extra a day, and there are moms out there who can't. There are babies who really need this, so why not share?"

Stalder gave her milk at the area's first known human milk donation drive at Sutter Medical Plaza on Monday.

The event's goal was to raise awareness of the health benefits of breast-feeding and the severe shortage of human milk for babies, especially premature babies, in hospitals nationwide.

The milk is being collected for the Mothers' Milk Bank of California, a San Jose-based nonprofit that ships about 350,000 ounces of processed human milk a year to 65 hospitals in 13 states for babies in need.

It is one of seven human milk banks nationwide.

Pauline Sakamoto, executive director of the bank, said medical research shows that breast milk has almost magical qualities for nourishing developing babies, and for protecting premature infants from potentially deadly illnesses. Read more at San Francisco Bee