A Mother’s Guide To Breast Milk Donation

Every mother thrives to ensure her baby’s overall well-being and growth, by providing the best possible nutritional foundation. The importance of breast milk as the primary source of nutrition for babies in the first year of their life is a well-known fact to most mothers.

In a situation where the mothers wish to give breast milk to their little ones while they can return back to work or in the case of mums wanting to prolong the possibility of giving breast milk to the baby even once solids have been introduced- the key to ensuring consistent milk supply is creating a milk bank.

Most women begin collecting milk for this purpose by simply following a pumping schedule and then storing the expressed breast milk in the deep freezer for subsequent use. Over a period of time, some mothers have a mini breast milk bank that helps them look after the ‘milk requirements’ of the infant from time to time. 

Mothers who express and store breast milk also know that the shelf life of expressed breast milk even when stored in a deep freezer is limited, maximum for up to one year from date of expression. Now, often families have extra expressed breast milk that they no longer need for their own child and this often results in the precious milk going waste.

What Is A Breast Milk Donation Bank?

This is where the concept of breast milk donation can some to use and help save many lives. Families that have surplus breast milk, which they probably do not require for their own child at that given point of time can come forward to join the initiative of donating this precious liquid gold to a human milk bank.

This donated milk can prove to be a life-changing resource for another family, with a newborn who is probably premature or highly underweight. Many times these families do not have access to breast milk for medical reasons or require additional breast milk over and above what the mother of the baby is being able to provide. Donated breast milk can prove to be life-saving for such babies.

As a pregnancy and lactation specialist, over the years I have had several mothers confide in me about their postpartum challenges that often came from two opposite poles of the spectrum.

On one hand, there were mothers who had trouble managing their oversupply of breast milk and had more than what they required for their baby. Some of them had expressed and stored more than what their baby needed, and they would often wonder how to use excess breast milk.

On the other hand, there were other mothers who struggled to be able to breastfeed their infants due to medical reasons. In some critical cases, these babies required breast milk more than any other medical intervention to help them thrive and grow healthier.

It is truly the concept of Breast Milk Donation and the subsequent use of donated breastmilk that can help bridge the gap and act as an aid for mothers on both sides of this spectrum. Therhappy is privileged to be associated with raising awareness for the same and be a platform to voice the importance of donated breastmilk and its further use.

For all those wondering how they can go about donating their extra breast milk-

The process of breast milk donation involves simple steps that include:

1. Identification of a human milk bank around your locality. These milk banks are usually attached to a medical organization or hospital.
2. The breast milk donor i.e the mother expressing the breast milk would be asked to submit documents of a health check up with specific blood profiling, to rule out any infections that could be passed on in her breast milk.
3. The breast milk would have to be donated in breast milk bags that has the date of expression and quantity of milk clearly mentioned on the bag.
4. The milk would then have to be stored according to the mentioned guidelines of the human milk bank and transported to them (several milk banks help arrange for the transportation)

As one of our Therhappy mothers once described her breast milk donation experience:

From one mother to another, donating breast milk is an honour. It is a privilege to be able to donate precious liquid gold of breast milk and have another little life’s needs fulfilled.

Should you have questions we can get them answered, so please talk to us in the comments below or you can write to us.