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April 2014 Moms
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Donating & Using Donated Breast Milk

rockstarlawrockstarlaw member
in April 2014 Moms
If you donate breastmilk - to or through which organization do you donate?

Is anyone out there using donated breastmilk?

Anyone encountered any issues with either donating or using?

I have recently become a donor and I'm nerdily fascinated by the subject as it's something I (somewhat foolishly) never thought about before pregnancy.

Discuss :)
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Re: Donating & Using Donated Breast Milk

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  • RedDawnsRevengeRedDawnsRevenge member
    I've been donating through mothers milk bank in San Jose this time. No real issues other than I hate calling FedEx, but that's a FedEx issue not a milk bank issue. I donated though HM4HB with DD1.
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  • RedDawnsRevengeRedDawnsRevenge member
    celticlullaby said:

    What you posted is interesting, @rockstarlaw‌. I've been stockpiling in the chest freezer so I can avoid buying formula *fingers crossed* - but I'm starting to have space issues. I've been thinking about donating through HM4HB once I can't fit anymore. I want to give away the oldest first, and I don't think I could send it to a milk bank? I mix milk from different pump sessions, I have no clue when I had a beer, stuff like that breaks their rules, right?

    I feel weird about HM4HB because I wouldn't take milk that way, only from a hospital or bank - but like you said, I know my milk is safe. And I'd feel horrible tossing perfectly good milk when I know there are moms who'd want it.

    My husband thinks I'm insane, and my family thinks it's disgusting. I think A14 has loosened me up a bit. :P

    I donated to a woman who adopted a baby. Unfortunately it was impossible for her to get a script for BM. The reason why the bank wouldn't take my milk was d/t being frozen after being refrigerated after 12hrs, from multiple pump sessions, and pumped while pregnant. It was good milk but after the death of my deep freeze I can only store about 200oz at once.
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  • MissWhisMissWhis member
    rockstarlaw said:

    @MissWhis‌ - are you in the states? Did they charge you for it (if you know?)? This is one of my dilemmas. From what I can tell, and I could be wrong, if you donate to one of these organizations that collect & pasteurize the milk for use in the NICU, ect. it seems like the pasteurizing company SELLS it back to the hospitals for use in the NICU. Then, I wonder if that cost is getting passed on to parents whose children are in the NICU receiving the milk.

    Still, an amazing service. I just feel a little queasy about some company making money off my milk when I wish there was a way to donate directly to the families/babies without cost to them.

    On the other hand, I see the obvious benefits of a company pasteurizing the milk - especially for use by the most fragile babies. And that's not free. So someone has to pay that cost I guess.

    I just wish there was a better way.

    I just started donating via Human Milk 4 Human Babies, and while I know MY milk is safe, I do understand there is a concern about other recipients getting milk from strangers. I realize this is nothing new. People have used wet nurses for years....but I'm a but crazy about the concept of disease spreading, so the topic is an interesting one for me.

    I'm in Portland, Oregon. Our local milk bank is this one: www.nwmmb.org

    I never saw an itemized bill for her stay, but I'm sure there was a charge for it. I think they would have to charge something for cost of operations/distribution/etc. I doubt there is much profit being made.

    I don't think I would have accepted unscreened milk. I'm in the medical science field and there is no way I would trust a stranger to know they were a safe donors.

    I think donation is awesome, though, however it works for people! I wish I didn't hate pumping so much...
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  • rockstarlawrockstarlaw member
    edited September 2014
    I will acknowledge that I don't think I could give my baby milk from a stranger I connected with in the internet. Now, you'd have to be some type of serious psychopathic shit bag to intentionally donate bad milk to some stranger's baby via the internet, so I suspect there is a very small number of people who would even consider doing that - but there are serious shitbags out there in the world, and there are people who don't know they have certain diseases, etc. I do not know if any of these unkonw diseases would be transmittable via breatmilk. I was also encouraged to learn that there are methods of taking some steps to protect your baby against bad stuff in milk. Apparently flash-heating actually kills may really bad viruses in breastmilk, including HIV, which was amazing to learn (see: https://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/05/21_breastmilk.shtml ) There are a lot of theories out there. Some say donor milk should be reserved for use in hospitals, but again, it has to go through this pasteurization, which isn't free. I only hope the organizations (which, indeed, are often non-profits) are leaving low overhead & not making much off the milk. That being said, right now I will continue to donate via HM4HB I think unless I can come up with a better recipient. I think I will continue to donate to the same woman as a long-term donor. Even though it's not my child that is on the receiving end, I feel better about it. And it's way better than throwing it away, in my opinion!
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  • rockstarlawrockstarlaw member
    Damn iPhone made that one mega paragraph! Argh! It looked formatted correctly before I hit post! Shit. Let me see if I can fix that....
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  • Sisimama10Sisimama10 member
    We've talked about it already, but human milk for human babies is what I donate through. I have donated to several different babies. I have one lady I donate to regularly and I asked her how many oz she would perfer me to freeze in. She said up and up milk bags are the best for what it's worth. I have frozen and donated over 2000 oz but have never thawed and used it myself so I had no idea which type of bags were the best or what increments to store in.
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  • rockstarlawrockstarlaw member
    Can't fix my paragraph spacing for some reason. Sorry Bump readers. At any rate, I do think donating for FREE via HM4HB probably also reduces a lot of risk of unsavories vs. buying milk from strangers (obviously, not applicable to pasteurized banks)....not that anyone has breached this topic other than me here. I would think it would be worse if you were buying the milk from people motivated by money to sell potentially not great stuff. I had been freezing and using my frozen stash on T once he started daycare. The problem is I was using the oldest first, going with the theory of "first in first out" from my restaurant/grocery days of college. But I realize now my milk changes as he grows and I feel he should be getting fresher (age-appropriate by what my body is producing) milk. The woman I connected with on HM4HB has a baby that is about three weeks off from my older stash, so it's kinda great for both of us. I get rid of my older milk, which was pumped just a few weeks off from her baby's age.
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  • speechie517speechie517 member
    I "donated" to a friend who couldn't keep up with her soon to be one year old's demand and they both seemed pretty satisfied. I will donate through HM4HB if I have the opportunity to do so too. A friend of mine was donating to the same mom and baby in the NICU for the little guys entire stay of roughly three months and shared the HM4HB info.
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  • TwirpleTwirple member
    I have donated some through HM4HB.  Now I donate to Mothers Milk Bank of Denver.  I freeze it at home, then take it to the lactation clinic connected to the hospital where the kiddos were born.  They collect it there, then ship it in bulk to Denver.

    The milk banks do charge the parents of the babies that receive the milk.  A single ounce of donated milk can feed a NICU baby up to 3 times.  While $1-$3 per ounce is expensive, those fees pay for milk storage bags and for the mild to be pasteurized, they pay for the required lab work for the mothers that are donating it, as well as for the salaries for staff at the milk bank.
    Chase was born 4/23/2011
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  • RrrrrachelRrrrrachel member
    There's another group like hm4hm called eats on feets.
    Mama to a little girl born July 2011 and a little boy born April 2014! Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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  • Sisimama10Sisimama10 member
    eme520 said:

    I don't know what kind of profit margins the milk banks are making, but I've heard quotes that our NICU pays $20-$30 an ounce. We have very strict eligibility criteria on who can use it.


    I would desperately like to donate since I'm out of freezer space, but I'm on Zoloft and banks won't take it. I'll look into some of the other places.
    I am also on zoloft. I disclose that to anyone I am potentially donating too. Because it is supposed to be safe for bf-ing moms it it usually no big deal. Since offering milk I have never had anyone turn me down bc of the zoloft. I had one mom pass bc she said birth control pills made her son gassy...?
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  • thejewelsterthejewelster member
    I was planning to donate but just did not have the extra milk. I did however give my frozen stash to a girl who was unable to breast feed. I was not able to use the milk as it was pumped before we knew of our lo's cmpa so the milk was contaminated. She came and picked if up and her tears of gratitude made the donation thing so real. Super happy I could help her out!
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  • spano41spano41 member
    I've donated to a friend but that's about it. In sad to say i ran out off freezer space and have thrown away gallons because i didn't have my act together and my life was too stressful to figure out how to donate :(
    BabyFruit Ticker
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  • rockstarlawrockstarlaw member
    @eme520‌ @Sisimama10‌ donates through Human Milk 4 Human Babies
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