Donating breastmilk

[MessyBun247]

Wasn't sure where to post this

My DD2 was seriously ill at 4weeks old and was in hospital for a week, recovered fine thank god. When she was on life support I was pumping milk 8 times a day in the hospital and freezing the milk. Once DD recovered I decided to donate all the milk to the milk bank, as DD was feeding really well and I wanted the milk to go to good use.

She will be 18 weeks tomorrow and I have been expressing and freezing 1oz of milk a day (apart from when she is having a growth spurt as there's literally none to spare!) and will send this milk to the milk bank.

I was wondering if there is anything I could do to up my supply a bit? My supply seems to have really settled down in the last few weeks (whereas I had a lot of oversupply before) and although I know my DD is feeding well and gaining weight, I don't seem to have much extra milk to express? I try expressing in the morning as this when my supply is most abundant. Would just love to be able to donate more than 1oz a day.

[kiki22]

I'd love to donate too marking my place for info.

[Florentina27]

I am drinking oats milk, herd it helps with milk supply and I lately express a bit longer, even when it barely drops as it tells the breast is not enough and this morning I expressed 5 oz from just one breast, the other one never gives more than 2.5 oz though, by baby is nearly 9 months old though and the let down is a lot faster comparing with first days. Hope it helps and well done for going to the bother to donate

[ARV1981]

Eating almonds can help with milk supply

[KP86]

It's a noble goal, but unless you expressing full time I don't know that there's much to do except pump more often before or after feeds. However, IME, that may not be great outcome for your DC because they might struggle to feed if you are too engorged (due to over supply) or they might end up only having the thinner fore milk instead of the fattier hind milk.

You've done your bit, and good on you for that (seriously). I pumped and fed/donated milk for 12 months and I understand the feeling of achievement and how nice it feels to be helping feed another baby.

[lljkk]

You've done a huge amount by donating so much already.
When I was a milk donor, they only gave teeny tiny amounts to the premmies, so don't think that 1oz is a tiny amount, it isn't actually.

My banks didn't want milk from mothers with babies > 6 months, so again, don't feel like you need to do more, they may decline soon anyway.

[Noodledoodledoo]

You are lucky you managed to donate - I spent 4 months trying to and kept hitting brick walls. =( I ended up throwing out a huge amount and still had enough for my daughter to have an expressed bottle every night until she was 14 months old!