Donating Breastmilk
Thank you for your precious gift!
Thinking of donating your surplus breastmilk? It takes many donors to supply one baby with exclusive breast milk feeds, twelve to fifteen in fact!
Donated milk does not just go to premature, small and sick babies but to babies whose mothers cannot breastfeed for medical or other reasons such as:
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cancer
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contraindicated medication or recreational drugs
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a mastectomy
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insufficient glandular breast tissue
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adopted, surrogate or fostered
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Other full-time caregivers can include grandparents, male same-sex couples or solo fathers.
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hormonal issues such as Poly Cystic Ovaries or Hypothyroidism
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blood transfusion - this can cause an initial reduction in milk supply.
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stress
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maternal mental health
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Reynard's Syndrome
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Sheehan's Syndrome
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or other maternal complications
Baby:
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tongue or lip tie
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cleft lip palette abnormality
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small or large for gestation
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Food intolerance - such as dairy proteins
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Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES) -a type of non-IgE mediated food allergy that can present with severe vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration. (this is a strict diet that your donor would need to be extremely vigilant for, we recommend you adjust your own diet to accommodate your baby as it is very rare to find a donor on the same path as you, if this is your baby's diagnosis).
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other breastfeeding difficulties
Below are the steps for donating breast milk.
Steps for donating breastmilk:
First step: Complete a lifestyle screening questionnaire
Please download the Donor lifestyle questionnaire pdf from the link below.
If you answer yes to some of the questions, it does not automatically mean you cannot donate. Such as; coffee, medications and alcohol intake CAN be okay whilst donating, recipient mothers need to be aware so they can make an informed decision and ask their healthcare professional for advice if they are unsure.
Some mothers will accept donor milk from a mother on the same or similar medications dependent on dosage.
For more information on medication and breastmilk, see link below: Medication and donor breastmilk info.
It is important to regularly update your recipient for any dose changes or new medications.
For example, if you get mastitis please do not donate this milk, it is fine for your own baby but not for others to receive your milk especially if taking antibiotics or supplements to heal your body. Once you have recovered from mastitis you may resume donating your milk if you wish to.
How much milk do you recommend as a minimum donation?
If you are currently under midwifery care, we recommend you arrange for your blood tests prior to discharge, as these tests are free under her care.
If the recipient is paying for blood tests and this is a one off donation, we recommend a 7L milk donation due to the cost of the blood tests. Blood tests can cost up to $275. If possible the cost can be shared between donor and recipient.
Second step: Blood tests.
It is recommended that you get blood tests before donating/receiving breastmilk.
Antenatal blood tests do not include Hep C, CMV and HTLV 1&2, and will be outdated by the time your baby is born, these blood tests are current for 3 months and require retesting.
You may not know you have had a past infection. For example: Cytomegalovirus (CMV), approximately 60-80% of the population have contracted CMV at some stage in their life and once they have been infected, it can resurface at any time. It is critical that a recipient knows your CMV status, as this can be life threatening for a premature or baby with ongoing health issues, to consume raw unpasteurised milk.
Blood test results can take 3-10 days
If you are donating to a baby who has an urgent request for milk, please ask your GP or Midwife to mark your lab form as “URGENT” to speed up the process.
DONORS - If you cannot get your blood tests done through your midwife (which are free, prior to discharge), please consult your GP.
The cost is $275+ in most areas and we recommend you form an agreement to share this cost with your milk recipient.
The tests required for milk donation:
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- CMV IgG and IgM (Cytomegalovirus)
- Syphilis
- HIV
- HTLV 1&2 (Human T-lymphotropic Virus or Human T-cell
Leukaemia Virus)
Once your results have been released from the lab you can ask your midwife/doctor to email these to you straight away, or you can pick them up directly from the blood lab with a photo ID such as your drivers licence.
Please ensure that your results have your name and the date the blood was drawn on each page. Once you have your results you can email them to the recipient.
If a Recipient has paid for your blood tests it is recommended that you follow through with the agreement to reserve your milk for them, unless you urgently require the milk for your own baby.
For Example: you require urgent surgery, or fall ill and cannot feed your baby.
We recommend that you routinely keep a store of milk for your baby and regularly rotate it as you donate your milk to the recipient baby.
DONORS - It is recommended that you renew your blood tests every 3 months as a virus incubation period is approximately 3 months.
Third step: Collect and store your milk.
Please store in double zip locked sterile milk storage bags, in a lidded box in the bottom of your freezer, this reduces the risk of the bag splitting.
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Zip lock snack bags are NOT recommended as storage for breastmilk. These bags are thinner and are easily damaged than purpose built milk storage bags.
Write your name, date, time of day, any recent medication or coffee/alcohol/food allergen if applicable (within two hours of pumping milk).
To freeze
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Leave a 10 ml gap and take out any air left in the top of the bag - this allows the milk to expand as it freezes.
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Lie the fresh milk bag on a flat surface - this makes storage easier if the milk is frozen flat and easier for packing and reduces the incidence milk bags splitting if bumped.
RECOMMENDED STORAGE TIME
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6 months in chest freezer/stand alone freezer
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3 months in fridge/freezer.
What if your milk is older?
MMNZ follows International Milk Banking guidelines, however, your milk is still good to use if stored in a chest/stand alone freezer past 6 months, it will degrade as it ages but is still considered nutritionally viable for a well full-term baby up to 12months from when it was expressed.
Fourth Step: Deliver milk
Courier - We recommend you ship milk using a polystyrene box, it acts like a chiller once filled with frozen milk and ice.
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Find an appropriate sized polystyrene box
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Filled with ice to the top - loose ice shaken into the box fills the gaps around the milk bags nicely
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Seal the lid edge to the box with packing tape.
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label - write FROZEN MILK on the top and sides and attach a courier packing slip or hand write the address and tape to the box.
A free polystyrene box is reasonably easy to access from:
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Supermarkets
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Vets
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Pharmacies
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Pet/Fish shops
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or purchase from a store
If finding a polystyrene box is proving difficult and your delivery is within 24hrs via a courier, you could use a chiller bag stacked with ice and placed inside a cardboard box.
NOTE: not recommended during summer
