Milk donation! Every drop counts!!

[fastasleep]

I just had the lady from my nearest milk bank round for the first time, as I'm purely expressing for my DD it's very easy for me to donate breastmilk - in fact I'm massively over-producing and she took 10 litres of frozen milk back with her...

But did you know that one ounce is enough to feed a very premature baby for a whole 24 hours?!

There are ten milk banks in the UK, but you'd be amazed how far they'll travel to pick up milk... they will give you an electric pump and supply all your bottles etc, they don't mind if you make loads or a tiny bit, they have flexible pick up times to fit around your life...

I think it's sad that in the whole city of Liverpool they have three milk donors, me included... it's not that hard to do if your feeding is well established, they recommend pumping straight after a feed for a few minutes on each side, you can top up the bottle and leave it in the fridge until it's full and then freeze it, your baby won't get any less milk that way... the only down side to it is that it takes a bit of your time!

Please look into it if you're at all interested - here's a link with the addresses on, here's the donor information. (Again you'd be amazed how far they'll travel so don't be put off if the nearest one is quite far away)

Thanks for reading!

i've got my bottles now all ready to fill as many as possible. Just have to try and find a way to get the milk to huddersfield from Sheffield!

Yay! I'm glad you've got your bottles my bottles are literally filling up my dining room... I think I counted 136 in all! Good luck with filling them!

filled first one
100ml for huddersfield!!

just like to say well done for donating your milk. As mum to prem twins born at 29 weeks I too was expressing, my milk dried very very quickly and nursing staff tried their best to get it back by giving me blankets from the incubators etc as we were unable to hold my sons.

We too ended with donated milk at a point and I am only too grateful of this as mummy milk helped to bring my boys on.

WELL DONE and thanks to those who do donate and take the stress of those who are unable to milk their puppies

my big worry is going to be getting it there how do i keep it frozen?

How long does it take exactly? I'm terrible at Geography! THe lady from my milkbank took some of my frozen milk just in bags for a half hour trip, she said it takes quite a while to thaw out...they usually use plain old cold bags with those jel packs in...

paper is a fabulous insulator. on a cold day I would just wrap them tightly in several layers of paper and stick in the boot of the car if stuck for cold storage when transporting.

its about an hour away

Can you use an ice box? That will reduce the thawing time.

Further to my messages - when I went along to my bf support group, there were posters up and the bfc had been in touch with the bank on the Wirral and got some info to hand out, so that's great.

I've talked to Chester and it seems at my stage, unless I was really keen on commitment to expressing (which I don't really like but would have done if they were desperate) it wouldn't be worth starting now (something about zinc levels after 6m) but I will know for next time to try to set this up sooner and have promised to send a donation (money, I mean!)

She was very grateful for my interest and I promised to spread the word so this message acts as a little 'bump' for the original poster...

We donated to Kingston milk bank over about 3 or 4 months. I like to think the milk was from both me and dd as it was her efficient sucking which allowed me to express easily.

The lady would come to pick up the frozen milk when I had a few containers. I only donated about 5L in total but it was worth it to them to come to Leatherhead for it.

Later that year we were all invited to the neonatal unit 'graduates' Christmas party as a 'thank you'. I envisaged undersized frail children so it was a brilliant surprise to see lots of robust toddlers and pre-schoolers tearing around making a deafening din. I wish I'd taken photos so that I could later explain to dd that her milk helped children like these.

Easiest way to help someone - much easier than giving blood - no needles (except the blood test at first assessment)- all in the comfort of your own home. Recommend it highly.

I wish I'd known about this in hospital 8 weeks ago. I could express loads of colustrum but dd2 wasn't interested in feeding much for a day or two. It would have been nice to donate that. I'll think about donating now though... closest to me is about 30 miles away

Here's the reply I received when I queried the six month rule. Re-printed with permission.

Dear Sue,

This is a far from straightforward issue and milk banks do differ in their position.

There are both scientific and practical reasons why most milk banks prefer donors to be recruited early in lactation once breastfeeding is established and usually before the baby is 6 months old (this does differ between milk banks - some only recruit before 4 months). The science is to do with the changing composition of milk - the older the donor's baby, the less suited it is to feeding a preterm infant (the main recipients of donor milk are preterm babies.) In particular the levels of zinc reduce and this has been known to lead to zinc deficiency in infants. So in principal donors whose babies are less than 6 months old are preferred.

However as you rightly point out we don't stop donors from providing milk once their baby reaches 6 months although in general the donations become much less at this point because as the baby starts to feed less frequently so the volumes of milk reduce (even if the missed feeds are expressed).

The practical reasons for not recruiiting mums whose babies are more than 6 months is also to do with the reduction in supply at around the time of weaning. Recruiting donors is costly in terms of the time taken to do all the necessary health screening and for the blood tests. As safety measures increase, the costs involved have also increased (due to repeat blood tests and more sensitive and costly blood tests being introduced). Experience has shown that the donors who are recruited after their baby is 6 months are likely to donate less milk and for a shorter period of time.

Having said that, different milk banks have different practices and some will suggest the prospective donor starts to express and store milk for a few weeks to see how she gets on and then make a decision.

However in general the '6 months rule' helps to ensure that the resources of the milk bank in terms of time and funding are concentrated on recruiting the donors most likely to provide the most suitable milk for the recipients.

Best wishes

Gillian Weaver
Chair - UKAMB
Milk Bank Manager, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, London

penultimate express for me last one tomorrow then dd2 is 6 months, but in one month they will have had 2 litres off me

Well done Katz! What a load of fab mummies you are. xxx

What a fabulous scheme. Wish I had known about it when I was breastfeeding my children as I am sure I could have donated a bit. Why isn't this advertised more in baby clinics/hospitals?

i'm going to talk to the new mummies about here in sheffield. so hopefully word will spread.