Donating Breast Milk ... The Second Time Round

I have been so thankful for the opportunity to be a breast milk donor now two times with both of my children. This opportunity was something has meant so much to me. It was a goal that I had each time, I have breast feed my children. I wanted to have enough milk for my child obviously, but also to be able to give some to other children. Being able to help support those babies I work with in the NICU everyday is something that is near and dear to my heart. I do understand for lots of mamas, this wasn’t a choice for them. They may have wanted to breast feed, but couldn’t sustain their milk supply or maybe didn’t have much of a supply to begin with. I don’t want this post to make any mama feel inadequate, but I just wanted to share this journey in the hopes of inspiring you and having you encourage other mamas out there on their breastfeeding journeys.

So I wanted to talk a bout how and why breast milk donation is important. I wrote up a post about 3 years ago now about the steps to breast milk donation - CLICK HERE. I wanted to share with you more about where this milk goes and why donating to a milk bank is important.

You might have heard about informal milk sharing. That is where one mama gives her breast milk to another mama to feed her child. This is also the idea of wet nursing (and those individuals had been used in years past). For mamas today, I would be very cautious about informal milk sharing. You have no idea what mothers do in terms of medications or drugs taken, alcohol consumed or any other substances. That makes me very apprehensive to tell mothers it is ok to obtain breast milk from informal milk sharing. Some women will say “well I know this person and trust them.” That is ok, and you as the mother have to do what you feel is best for you and your child and make a choice you can live with. I do have an experience with giving some of my milk to a mother (who I didn’t personally know) . I spoke with her ahead of time and told her that I was an approved milk donor, but she never asked me any questions. Honestly, I never gave my milk away again. I didn’t feel comfortable with it and didn’t feel like it was best use of a limited resource.

The process to donate milk to the Milk Bank has a couple of steps - an application, a screening call and blood work. Those things are all done to ensure that the milk is safe for recipients. This milk that is donated, is then pooled together to ensure that the calories and protein are evenly distributed. It is then bottled and then pasteurized for hospitals and the community to purchase. This process is done in a safe and clean milk handling space. The staff that handles and pasteurizes this milk is specially trained to follow safety guidelines and procedures.

I wanted to share this information with you all so you are aware of this amazing resource and if you have extra breast milk and are interested in donating - reach out to The Milk Bank.

I also wanted to share a quick summary about my personal experience with donating milk for a second time. I have admit it was a very different experience. Life with two small children is so much different compared with only having one. The first time, I had LOTS of extra milk and was able to donate quite a bit. I also was limited on freezer space and that is what pushed me donate more sooner, rather than later. This second time around, I have donated less and then getting the blood work done took me forever. It was just hard to fit it in my schedule. I plan to try to donate some more milk one more time, but I have had as much extra as I did the first time round. I share all of my personal experience with you to let you know that each pregnancy, each child and each time you choose to breast feed is different. It never goes the same way twice and that is ok. If you are able to have extra milk to donate, please send it to The Milk Bank and if that’s not possible for you that is ok as well. There are other ways to give and support this non-profit.

Update on Donating Breastmilk and Breast Pumps

I wanted to do a quick write up about donating breastmilk to the Indiana Milk Bank. I was able to drop off some of my extra milk to the Milk Bank and I was very excited and wanted to share about that experience. I was able to go through the approval process to become a donor. Then I went ahead and donated 687oz of frozen breastmilk. My mother had this milk in her deep freezer and she helped me drop it off at Columbus Regional Hospital. I was so excited to be able to give some of my milk to the Milk Bank to sell to hospital to use for preterm babies. 

If you are a breastfeeding mother and have extra breastmilk, you should consider becoming a breastmilk donor. Check out my first post about this - CLICK HERE. 

I also donated some breastmilk to a random stranger on Facebook .... gasp! I know right? I was torn about it. But here is why I did it ... I had some breastmilk that had been in a refrigerator/freezer for > 6months and I wasn't able to donate it to the Milk Bank. There standards can < 6months in a refrigerator/freezer. This was milk that I didn't need and I wanted it to go to someone that could use it. There was a lady on a Swap Group I belong to on Facebook who was needing donor breastmilk for her little one and she hadn't been able to find anyone with extra milk. I really felt like I could and should help her. I felt like I wanted her to get good, safe milk and I let her know that I was an approved donor through the Milk Bank. I was able to give her over 200 oz of breastmilk. Normally I am not a fan of just giving away your breastmilk to a stranger, but I felt like if you think about it and do what you feel comfortable with that can be the write call. 

I also wanted to touch on breast pumps. I have had several people ask me about my breast pump. I went ahead and purchased a Medela Symphony. This pump is a hospital grade pump and it is what you would use while in the hospital or if your baby was in the NICU. This is a great pump, but is very expensive to purchase on your own. Insurance won't purchase it for you. I was very torn about what type of pump to purchase. I really liked Medela, but there are so many different options and I kept hearing such mixed messages about all of them. I was really stressing about it and that is when my husband suggested we look online for a used Symphony. We found one on Ebay that was ~$600 and it has ~75 hours on the machine. This was a great deal when retail value is ~$1000. I knew that this pump would work well and I wouldn't stress about it. If I had rented the same pump through the hospital it is $60 a month and over the course of 12 months that costs $720. So I knew that I would get my money worth out of that pump if I purchased it on my own. I just wanted to share that story with you, because I don't think people realize that you can purchase a used Symphony pump. Now, please be smart about it when you shop on Ebay. But if you really want that hospital grade pump there are ways to obtain one for less than the retail price of $1000. 

If you are looking at getting a breastmilk pump through your insurance .... do your research, look online and talk to your friends. Try to figure out what pumps have good reviews and evaluate what would work for you. This is a big decision and you need to make sure that you are making the best choice for you and your little one. 

Donating Breastmilk

I wanted to write up a blog post on a topic that is near and dear to my heart .... breastmilk donation. As many of you probably know I work in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) here in Indianapolis. We purchase and use a lot of donor breastmilk for our premature babies. There are lots of studies that show that using donor breastmilk in a preterm infant can be a good alternative when there isn't enough maternal breastmilk available. We specifically use this donor breastmilk for infants who are less than 34 weeks gestation and less an 1500g (3lbs 5oz). 

Breastmilk is an amazing food. It contains protein, carbohydrates, fat, fat soluble vitamins and has immune boosting properties. This makes it the perfectly designed food for babies. Donor breastmilk can be a good substitute for small, infants who don't have enough of their own mother's milk to eat. There are two negatives of donor breastmilk, that I commonly see in the NICU. First, it is a pasteurized product and during that process you end up killing off some of those immune boosting properties and denaturing some proteins. Secondly, you are giving term breastmilk (the typical milk donor is has a term infant and is donating mature milk) to a preterm baby. It is not the perfect make up of fat, protein and carbohydrate for that gestational age. It has been found to be helpful in this preterm population. Mother's own milk is best, but if needed donor breastmilk comes in as a great second option.

So how does the process work? I have had parents in the NICU be grossed out by the thought of using someone else's breastmilk for their baby. There is a huge system in place to help ensure that breastmilk being donated is safe to use for your child.  

Step #1 - The donor speaks with someone at the Milk Bank and they are screened to see if they could potentially donate. There is a whole list of questions - CLICK HERE for Indiana's Screening Criteria.  The Milk Bank wants their donors to be in good health (you have to get signed off on by your OB and pediatrician), taking no medications, be willing to get your blood drawn and commit to donating 100 ounces of breastmilk. 

Step #2 - After speaking with someone at the Milk Bank you will fill out an application that will get turned back into the Milk Bank. You will also get your blood drawn. They want to make sure that you don't have any blood borne illnesses that could be transmitted in your breastmilk. 

Step #3 - Take your breastmilk to donate to your nearest Milk Depot. There is a list of Milk Depots available online. 

Step #4 - Once you donate your breastmilk, it is pooled together and then pasteurized. That milk is then combined in bottles that are frozen to be distributed to the buyers. The bottles are bottled with lot numbers and the have bar code that is attached to them. This would allow for tracking of milk if there ever was a problem.

There are a few things that you have to do to be a donor, but honestly that time that it takes is minimal and you are doing so much good for lots of babies out there. The NICU at St Vincent Women's and at Riley get their donor breastmilk from the Indiana Milk Bank. They are also the two largest purchasers in the state. There are lots of other NICU units that are purchasing that donor breastmilk as well. If you are interested in becoming a donor check out the Indiana Milk Bank website and give them a call. If you want to donate money to help support this non-profit check out their About Us section to learn more.