Why should I donate?

Breastmilk is especially important for babies who are sick or premature. Giving these babies breastmilk increases their chances of survival and helps their long-term development. Sometimes their mothers cannot feed them because they are sick or under too much stress to produce enough milk. Even small quantities from a donor mum, can make a huge difference to these babies; 1oz is enough to last a tiny premature a day and a half!

How do I donate?
UKAMB (UK Association for milk banking) aims to form a national donor breastmilk service that would supply infants throughout the UK according to priority of need rather than according to the chance location of an infant’s birth. Their site contains full details of what being a donor involves, and how to go about it.

What do mums on our forum say?

JontyAmy: Hi, I’m Caroline, mummy to Jonty age 4 (born v. early at 24 weeks) and Amy age 4 months.
Just wanted to share with you the concept of donating your breast milk! (When Jonty was in Special Care as a very sick prem baby, I had to express my milk (which helped save his life due to the antibodies as he had no immune system at all); he then received my milk via a tube.

I had loads of milk left over and started to donate my expressed breast milk to the hospital for the benefit of other premature or sick babies. (After hospital blood tests to make sure I’m healthy of course!)

This milk actually saved the life of a little baby girl with major digestive problems, and helps others to fight infection and develop more healthily.

I am again donating milk with my second baby; I simply express once a day and pop it in the freezer. Human milk banks are becoming more common around the UK: if you would like to donate your excess milk to help other babies whose mums can’t or won’t do it, please ask at your local hospitals’ Special Care Baby Unit, or visit UKAMB.

Imsunshine99 - I donated when Kiernan was really little, it really is a wonderful thing to do.

Brupe: I’ve worked out that even though I didn’t start until she was about 8-10 weeks old and didn’t express every day (due to illness of lo’s/me and limpet baby & toddler at times); when I was expressing it was only once a day - yet, I still managed to donate somewhere between 2.5 & 3 pints I think (based on an average of 2.5 oz per go), which I worked out would be the equivalent of about 5 months supply for a teeny tiny prem baby.

2 points I’m trying to make here - the first is I’m really quite proud of myself :)

The 2nd and more important one is that it really doesn’t take much effort to make a real contribution, so if you’ve got a lo under 4 months (you have to have started pumping by then) then do consider donating.