anyone donating breast milk?

[rosied]

I just wondered if there was anyone out there who is donating to a milk bank interested in chatting about it? I have just got started expressing milk to donate - I have got up to 130mls (4oz) a day by increasing gradually over a week. I'm really pleased with how it's all going - would love to chat to others doing it. Apparently there are 100 or so women in the UK donating at any one time!!

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I did after DS2 was born. I was bale to get 80z per day first thing in the morning and I kept half for DS2 and gave half to the hospital. They came round and asked me some questions and gave me some blood test. Left the little bottles with me, I expressed when I could and phoned them when I had a few in the freezer. Then they came and collected it! Easy.
I was so glad to be able to do it as I'd had real problems feeding DS1 so I felt quite smug that I had stuff to spare!
Also, my niece and a godson were in SCBU so I wanted to be able to pay a bit back for that.

obviously not 80 oz LOL
That should be I was able to express 8 oz
duh - must preview more

you have to have blood tests at your local milk bank which they check for HIV etc., they give you sterilised bottles to take home and away you go! I had some great advice from a private lactation consultant about how to increase milk supply safely. They like 2 litres or so to make the pasturization worthwhile. The milk is given to very sick babies in neonatal wards. It feels very satisfying to see the bottles mount up in the freezer and know it is going to a little person that really needs it.

i wanted to do it a few years ago, but got put off reading about a man in his sixites drinking it to help him prevent some disease, cant remember what.
i just didnt want my milk going to anyone but a newborn, or sick baby .

8oz a day is great! You must have felt really satisfied with that. Was that from one boob only or did you express from both? I only use one as i seem to have one really efficient boob and one very lazy one - so I express from the good one while feeding from the other. I am a bit lopsided though so hope that changes after BF all finished!

I used to feed DS2 from one side and express the other side - first thing in the morning.

Had sort of forgotten about it until your thread - DS2 is 2 this week so it was a bit of a while ago now! Would definitely do it again if/when I have another!

Tommy - maybe it is too long ago now to remember but did you have any problems in stopping the extra expressing? I have had emgorgement several times leading to mastitus 3 times with this baby so I am quite anxious about oversupply. I am not stopping for couple of months yet, but still thinking about whether I need to take a week/10days over the stopping process and gradually reduce the amount each day. What did you do?

Who would I contact if I wanted to do this?

info here

rosied - not that I remember. When DS2 went onto solids and I was feeding him less, my supply obviously went down and I didn't donate anymore. the hospital said that most women only donate for a few months anyway. I was still quite full in the morning IIRC but only expressed enough for DS2. Don't know how old your baby is but with me it all seemed to settle down as I got into it.
Good luck - it's a great thing you're doing

I donated a fair amount whilst dd was in SCBU and afterwards - mainly because I had to express for her and had a rather large oversupply.
I was told that they take milk from mums of babies up to 6 months old. Don't know whether that was a local stipulation or if it still exists. And yes, I gradually reduced the amount I expressed rather than stopping suddenly.

Thanks MT. Ds is 10 months now so I don't qualify but will bear it in mind for another time (...!)

i never knew you could do this. i tried b/f with dd but she wouldnt take it but i had loads of milk can still get a bit (shes 4 months now) wish i could have done this to help as my friends baby was in scbu all his life but died recently and would be nice to tr and help out a bit