Would u donate milk??

[embeth]

I was reading an nct magazine and there was an article on a local woman donating her milk regularly to a local hospital special care baby unit while she was also bfing her baby. I thought what a nice thing to do. Once my milk supply is more established I am considering doing this aslong as I can be sure it won't effect my supply for my lo. What do U think ??would u??

 

[Hangin_On_AGS]

I donated my milk when i had enough to a woman who's daughter was reacting to everything but breast milk. It is very rewarding to help someone else who needs it when you have extra to give.

 

[embeth]

I donated my milk when i had enough to a woman who's daughter was reacting to everything but breast milk. It is very rewarding to help someone else who needs it when you have extra to give.

Lovely thing to do x

 

[mummytokeelie]

I would definitely, think of all those little babies you would be helping I think its lovely xx

 

[embeth]

Yeah that's what I thought. Will definitely enquire about it I think.

 

[ChimChims]

I'm trying to get my breasts used to pumping for exactly this reason. Human Milk 4 Human Babies is always looking for donors. Usually the moms will provide the storage bags and drive to pick up the supply. So faf im only up to an extra 3 or 4 oz extra a day.

 

[mummytokeelie]

I would love to do it just at the moment don't see how I will find the time with a 2.5 year old and two month old but hopefully when things settle a little more I could look into it! X

 

[embeth]

I'm going to wait until my own lo is a couple of months and then enquire. Don't want to mess around with my supply until his feeding is established. Really is something I would be happy to do and help all those tiny precious babies! x

 

[Bevziibubble]

Definitely. It's an amazing thing to do!

 

[baby287]

I wish i had! I dont have a huge supply now that lo is a year, i think theres just enough for him . Maybe next time!

 

[misspriss]

I donated all my extra NICU milk to a local woman who had a history of insufficient milk supply due to a glandular deficiency who needed milk to supplement. I have some extra I was going to give her, but I am hanging on to it until she needs it in case something happens to me...or something.

 

[ThunderPearls]

I would love to do that and will look into it once I am finally over my BFing troubles and feel fully confident in my supply

What sort of checks/screening is there?

 

[Lara310809]

I admire and respect the women that donate, but I would never do it. Mainly because I don't see much of a difference in breastmilk and formula, so I wouldn't go out of my way to ensure another baby can get it, because in all honesty, it's no big deal for me if my child has formula, so I don't really see the importance.

But also because my diet isn't that great (due to finances), so I wouldn't inflict my breastmilk on another person's baby when they have their full faith in me to provide a good quality milk. For my own baby it's fine, but I wouldn't give it to another for that reason.

Also, pumping for me was an additional stress, and I was only doing it to build up a freezer stash, so I stopped it. I wouldn't get back into pumping knowing that it was a stress before unless I had no other option

 

[Kellen]

We have donated milk to a local mama with an adopted baby who has a severe reaction to any and all types of formula. Since then we have actually become friends and have started a baby play group. It goes beyond just meeting a physical need. The fact that we donate isn't something that we typically share with others because it seems rather private to me, but it feel awesome to know that we are helping someone else. And by "we" I mean my LO and me. Without her it wouldn't be possible!

 

[embeth]

I would love to do that and will look into it once I am finally over my BFing troubles and feel fully confident in my supply

What sort of checks/screening is there?

From what iv read it's mainly routine blood screening for certain diseases/conditions xx

 

[MommyJogger]

I ended up building an extreme oversupply by pumping at work. Around the time I was struggling to get it to go down, a friend of mine gave birth to twins. She's a nurse working 12 hour shifts with a single pump break (and she doesn't really respond to it anyway), so her supply decreased pretty quickly when her maternity break was cut short by her employer. We're both huge believers in a baby's right to breast milk. So instead of trying to make my oversupply go away, I kept pumping to increase it. Atm, I manage to pump about 45oz "extra" each day and she's managed to keep a decent enough supply to mostly nurse while she's with them, with just an occasional bottle. The current goal is to get them to 1yr. After that, we'll get them as much breast milk as we can, but my milk will probably decrease during pregnancy and they might have to go down to what their mom can provide while she's with them. I can't imagine finding the time to do it when I have more than one child, though. That would be rough.
I think the normalization of human-to-human milk sharing is really important simply because of how many areas in the US don't have banks to donate to (we do not and our hospital only takes colostrum donations when they have an extreme need, which usually means the need goes unmet by local donors), and most women are more than willing to undergo another prenatal blood screen when they're donating. Donating is something you'll never regret.

 

[sillysapling]

It's not an option for me, but I just wanted to comment that the only way my baby was able to get breastmilk and colostrum for the first month of life was thanks to a donor. I really do believe that it helped him a great deal. I'm very grateful for it.

I wish that I could donate breastmilk, but I can't really even make my own.

 

[Amalee]

I admire and respect the women that donate, but I would never do it. Mainly because I don't see much of a difference in breastmilk and formula, so I wouldn't go out of my way to ensure another baby can get it, because in all honesty, it's no big deal for me if my child has formula, so I don't really see the importance.

But also because my diet isn't that great (due to finances), so I wouldn't inflict my breastmilk on another person's baby when they have their full faith in me to provide a good quality milk. For my own baby it's fine, but I wouldn't give it to another for that reason.

Also, pumping for me was an additional stress, and I was only doing it to build up a freezer stash, so I stopped it. I wouldn't get back into pumping knowing that it was a stress before unless I had no other option

I completely respect where you are coming from, and with babies who are thriving, there might not be any difference, or any noticeable difference between being formula fed or breastfed. Here in the US, donated milk is available by prescription to babies born premature, low birth-weight, extremely ill, or who for whatever reason, have compromised immune systems. The antibodies that they get from breastmilk in the first few days can mean the difference between life and death, and since it's easier to digest, it leads to fewer gastrointestinal problems. Milk is combined from multiple donors after being tested to maximize the amount of antibodies the babies will get.

 

[dizzy65]

i would if i could pump enough to donate

 

[AnneD]

I most certainly would. I asked at the hospital if they took donations, but they don't, unfortunately.