Interested in being involved in a campaign to increase breastmilk donation?

[organiccarrotcake]

A few of us are discussing this and possibly trying to include MN.

Suggested areas to target:

• Increasing the number of UK milk banks
• Increasing the number of milk donors
• Raising awareness of milk donation both to BFing mums who can donate and to parents of babies in SCBU who need the milk

Anyone interested in being involved? Even in a tiny way? We are all very busy with babies and/or children so obviously that can make it really tough to get tied into something but even a few minutes here and there from a group of people makes a big difference :)

Yes, I would be very interested in this and have various links that could facilitate it.

Glad this has been bumped as I missed it the first time round.

I'm going to speak to my local bank (about 60 miles away) and try and get some leaflets from them and try and get them distributed through the infant feeding co-ordinator.

Could this work?
I get a group people interested in donating.
They express and freeze their milk.
The bank comes on a certain day to collect their milk.

I see from the website that some hospitals supply pumps. Do they supply the bottles, storage bags etc too?

(bump!)

I heard about milk banking through a random comment on a thread on here. I took 2.5 litres to Addenbrookes on Tuesday :-)

The NCT in Cambridge apparently collects for Addenbrookes, but further away towns don't have anything organised, nor is Milk Bank advertised. I had to find out about it for myself and I have to deliver it myself. I'm telling people about it.

CrikeyBadger: getting people interested in donating is great, but banks may not have the resources to collect the milk. As I had my own pump, I didn't ask about borrowing one, but Addenbrookes do supply bottles to store in.

Thanks Madderhat. I'll find out about that.

2.5 litres!! That's amazing.

I think you're right, not many people know about donating milk. It's never been mentioned to me by any mw or HV or at any bf support group. I wonder it it's best to give women the info antenatally or once they have got their own bfing sorted out?

I wanted to with dd1 but no one was close enough. I'd like to now but I'm half way between the Chester & Glasgow ones so not exactly close now either. I also had a blood transfusion in 2001 so I think it rules me^ out?

I live in The Netherlands and there are NO milk banks at all. Absolutely none. Apparently a training hospital in Amsterdam will be setting one up later this year. DS has just turned 1 and people think I'm weird for feeding him, although no-one is hostile about it, more just curious. He went on nursing strike a while back and no-one could help me with it or knew anything about it. I ended up contacting La Leche League in the UK. The midwives here are great at getting feeding started - I had terrible problems in the beginning, but everyone expects that you switch to FF when maternity leave ends. The HV nearly fell off her chair when she found out I was still BF.

So, for what it's worth, I'd help with a UK/MN campaign.

I think it's worth at the very least keeping this or another thread active on this conversation, and perhaps other relevant places on mumsnet (antenatal areas?), to start increasing awareness within the mumsnet community.

There's a very small window to catch people who are successfully breastfeeding because the banks want the donations to start by 6 months and need to do blood tests to check the donor is okay. As Addenbrookes' bank was so busy they didn't get the paperwork to me for ages too.

There's a very small window to catch people who are successfully breastfeeding because the banks want the donations to start by 6 months and need to do blood tests to check the donor is okay.

Totally true, I only found out about milk banking once I had been bf for a couple of months. I then tracked down UKAMB, but my local milk bank was all the way across central London. I couldn't get tests done at my GP or use my antentatal screening, I had to get there for the tests. It took a while before I felt able to do this with a young baby, on public transport, so by the time I was beginning to arrange this they said that I wouldn't be able to express enough before 6 months to make it worthwhile.

So I became a peer-supporter instead!

I think this is a great idea.

I'm in Sheffield, so nearest is Huddersfield but when I asked about donating milk after DS was born I was told by MWs here that there was nowhere close that would take donated milk.

Didn't even try after DDs birth, but am inspired to try again when DC3 arrives in June. I have gallons of milk and always found expressing a doddle - my medieval times job would have been a wetnurse, I think...

I think the key is to catch mothers who might be interested antenatally - even a sentence in 'Emma's Diary'?

Nightlark I live in Leeds and donated to chester who came and collected (Hudds weren't interested as ds was almost 6m when I started)

It is also worth mentioning www.milkshare.org ...good if your lo is over 1 or you are in some way unsuitable for milk banking but ok for other babies (or perhaps awaiting the relevant paperwork from your local bank )

SOrry i ment www.milkshare.org.uk

Addenbrookes will take milk from a mother of a greater than 6 month old, but she has to start donating before 6 months. I was told that if they start earlier then they get more milk donated and so it's more cost effective to do the blood tests and paperwork. I don't know the details for certain, but I expect they use the younger milk on the higher priority babies, and the older-baby milk is probably still better than formula in the absence of own mother's or younger-baby milk for the very vulnerable babies. All my donations have on them my name, my baby's name and DOB, and the date and time I expressed.

I typically pump and freeze 1 bottle a day - that's at least 100ml, usually 130ml. Now I'm beginning to wean, I'm pumping a little more and using the extra to make up cereal. My baby is 6 months 2 days old.

Maybe I am missing something, but there doesn't seem to be much traffic on that milkshare site.

There was a thread about it when it was first launched last year BranchingOut.

For some, it seemed too informal and lacking in any guidelines for donating mothers.

I've had a scout round some of the breastfeeding websites just to see who is promoting milk banking.

ABM and BfN both had good info about it and was easy to find.

NCT had the milk banks listed under the local groups info. So unless you knew about it already, or were in an area where they already have a bank, then you would be unlikely to stumble across it.

Couldn't see any links from the LLL site.

I know Bliss were mentioned earlier, so maybe I've missed something, but I would have thought that they would have info on milk banking their site.

Surely women who have had prem babies would be good ambassadors for the organisation and could raise awareness of milk banking alongside their issues.
Even if it meant handing out some leaflets at one of their cupcake sales.

Also an article on the babycentre website (not sure what it's like but it gets good traffic).

bumping again.

I emailed the coordinators of my not so local milk bank offering any help. Neither addresses worked, so they must need updating.

I've just emailed the Oxford milkbank coordinator asking if I can donate. Been bawling my eyes out watching the UKAMB promotion video.

maygirl - interesting to hear you donate through RBH as that's where I had DD, and where she was in SCBU. She had to have formula then as I couldn't express enough at first and we were told the DBM was saved for the really sick babies (DD was only in SCBU for 3 days - the longest 3 days of my life though!).

I'm going to mention it to my local NCT branch leader (and antenatal teacher). I think it would be good if the NCT BFCs gave out leaflets in the bfing pack they give out on antenatal courses.

I've never met anyone whose baby received DBM, I've heard about SCBU babies who got formula "because DBM is saved for the really sick babies". I wonder if anyone on MN has had a baby receive it.

Apparently people are more likely to give blood if they know someone who has been a recipient, I wonder if that's the case for DBM.

There's a piece on the 'Dispelling Breastfeeding Myths' website about milk banking as the author's baby had DBM.

It's here

(bump)
Yay, I've reached 5 litres (9 pints) of donated milk!

Bumping because I'm currently pregnant with DC3, am already leaking collostrum and know from experience that I have no problem expressing milk. I live in the NE of England and have contacted Glasgow, Huddersfield, Wirral and Chester and none of them are interested in my milk. I've even spoken to my midwife and she's put me in contact with the local infant feeding co-ordinator but there are currently no plans for a milk bank in the north east. Chester told me SCBUs in the north east use formula.

It seems like there is a bit of a disconnect here, the people who would volunteer are not always the same as those who would benefit and I'm not sure what the balance between the charity element and the NHS is. There are a few threads on here from 2010 but then nothing much at all. How do you campaign for a milk bank to be set up? Why isn't there one in the north east? Presumably the pressure has to come from Preemie parents?

In addition, I work for a company that would be a fairly natural fit for corporate sponsorship but not sure how to suggest that when there is no local link.

louisianablue2000 - firstly, could you PM me and I'll send you my contact details. I'm a trustee for UKAMB and would love to talk to you.

When you say that the milk banks you've contacted aren't interested, do you mean they can't collect from you? Typically demand is met for donors within an area of the milk bank that they can collect from without incurring too many costs. The difficulty that milk banks have is that they need to minimise costs to survive (like all of the NHS) but there are areas of the country which are quite a long way from milk banks where keen donors may be unable to donate unless they take the milk in themselves.

That doesn't mean that the milk isn't wanted, just that the cost element gets too high. It also doesn't mean that it's not possible to help. While donor milk itself is clearly critical as you can see there is still not full access to donor milk when required and that's something that UKAMB works to improve. Anyone who can help with this would be very, very gratefully welcomed. For instance, becoming a UKAMB member www.ukamb.org/how-to-help/membership-2/ will help us with much-needed funds, or if you have any specific skills, maybe you'd be willing to donate a little time?

Regarding corporate sponsorship I am currently looking for companies who would be willing to be corporate members. They need to be WHO compliant of course but I would be very, very keen to talk to you about this.

Part of UKAMB's remit is to work towards access to donor milk for every baby who needs it. This doesn't necessarily mean more milk banks (although it may in the future) but ensuring that milk processed at the existing ones is available to babies across the UK. Hospitals in the NE are able to use the donor milk from milk banks should they request it and this may need to be driven by parents, so raising awareness of donor milk (with UKAMB's help) in your region may be a really important thing to do.

The thing is that while donating milk is really important, and a wonderful gift, the wider picture is ensuring that babies who need it, get it, and while there are wonderful women prepared to take the time and effort to donate milk, there are far fewer willing to donate time to fundraise or campaign and that's what we really need!

To clarify the charity question. UKAMB is a charity, funded solely by donations. We are a repository of information for milk banks, with a team of milk bank/donor breastmilk/premature baby/neonatologist/pharmacist experts, together with a few enthusiastic volunteers (like me) who often are donors or former donors. We need more! We don't run milk banks, but we do work with them to ensure that they have access to central information on best practise, we worked on the NICE guidelines, and we are working towards a national donor breastmilk service which would lead to access to donor breastmilk by need, not geography as to a great extent it is now.

Most milk banks are run and funded by the NHS. Chester milk bank is a charity.

Anyway, do PM me (and anyone interested in being involved let me know). You can also join the UKAMB Facebook group here: www.facebook.com/pages/UKAMB/175639355822576