Happy Friday: Giving Back By Donating Milk
Sent from reader, Megan:
Our 3rd baby boy was born 2.5 months early in November. In spite of all that we went through over the course of his 11 weeks in the NICU, we are so blessed to have him. I breastfed my other 2 boys and wanted to provide this new little miracle with the same start, so I began pumping as soon as possible after the emergency c-section. At first the baby was on IV nourishment and when he started getting my milk through an oral-gastric tube it was less than a teaspoon each day.
Although I was initially concerned that I wouldn’t be able to establish an adequate milk supply using only a pump, I soon filled up the freezer at my house…and then the industrial size freezer in the NICU! When I realized that I would need somewhere to put all that milk when our baby was discharged, I began exploring options other than throwing it all away. My mom sent me a link to a milk bank in California that uses human milk to make a milk fortifier for premature babies in the NICU. I decided to go through the process of becoming a milk donor (blood testing, DNA profiling..etc) for the milk bank in California as well as for one in Texas and was able to donate over 1,621 ounces of milk that would have otherwise been tossed.
All costs were covered by the milk banks. The milk bank in California even sent me $300 for “breast pump reimbursement” and donated $1 to Make a Wish Foundation for every ounce that I donated. Being able to donate my excess milk helped me look outside of my own crisis as well as give me something to feel good about as I left the hospital day after day without my baby. I’m happy to report that my 3 lb 2 oz preemie has grown into my milk supply and now weighs close to 11 lbs!
HAPPY FRIDAY! 😀
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This is awesome. Every baby deserves a healthy start.
What a wonderful story!
This is wonderful! I hope her story inspires more moms to donate milk to babies who can benefit greatly! Thanks for featuring this story Hip2Save, and bringing attention to a great need.
That’s Amazing Megan!!!! You have blessed others and now you are blessed!!! That was exactly what I needed to read today! Thanks for Sharing!
WOW, I want to know what kind of breast pump you used, I could never get that much!
I think she used a medela electric pump.
I used an electric Medela while visiting my baby in the NICU and at home I had an electric Ameda pump. I pumped every 3 hours faithfully around the clock until my supply was established…then every 3-4 hrs during the day and every 4-5 hrs at night. I had to look at pictures of him while pumping since I couldn’t hold him. It was not easy physically or emotionally, but I was very motivated to establish a supply for him…it was the only thing I could do for him during those months he was in the NICU.
First of all Megan, I am so happy to hear that your baby is doing better! Second, you are wonderful for thinking of others even during your own tough time! Much love
I know there are websites where you can give it for free to families that need it. We have friends that needed it for a child they were help raising to help with some of his health issues and thanks to people they got months of free breast milk which helped the little guy tremendously.
I am currently breastfeeding and I’d love to donate milk, I checked into donating but couldn’t because I was taking claritin at the time. Does anyone know of other ways to donate or specific families in need?
find some groups on fb. Human Milk for Human Babies – Oklahoma is one. I’m sure they have them set up with other states also. On this site you say that you were on Claritin & people can decide if they want the milk.
There is HM4HB in all states. It’s a great way to share. You just tell them how much milk you have and any information that should be shared. Most people receiving milk want to know what medications you are on, if you have caffeine and if you have dairy in your diet.
You can likely check a milk sharing/mother to mother site, like the one listed here or Eats on Feets.
awesome story 🙂
I totally got teary eyed! 🙂 ♥ Thanks for sharing your story, Megan.
That is so awesome!
That was really nice of you to do Megan.
I did the same thing for the Mother’s Milk Bank of Iowa, but for no reimbursement, which was fine, too! I was just happy it wasn’t all going to waste! As my mom said, “were just like milking cows!”
whoops “we’re”
I also donated to the Mother’s Milk Bank of Iowa when I was feeding both of my kids. I was glad to be able to do it.
Wow! i am inspired. What a great story, thanks for sharing !
Megan please give me the link to the milk bank if you can! I would love to help as well!
I donated to 2 different milk banks and each bank had a different purpose. The one in Texas dispenses donor milk only by prescription primarily to critically ill infants in NICUs.
The website is https://www.texasmilkbank.org/
The second milk bank I donated to was affiliated with Prolacta BioScience, a company that uses human milk to make another product…human milk fortifier (HMF). Preemie babies often need more than the 20 calories/oz that normal breast milk provides. Extra calories are added to the milk by adding HMF. Prolacta is the only company that manufactures HMF from human milk, rather than cow milk. My son needed HMF, but the NICU he was in only had the HMF product manufactured by Enfamil (made from cow milk).
The website for the California (prolacta) milk bank is https://milkforwishes.com/
Hope this helps! 🙂
Wow !
That is beautiful.
Awesome!!!
Really awesome!
I really wanted to breastfeed my hospitalized baby, but had a hard time pumping and would only get an ounce at a time. Because we had such a small amount of milk, we never wanted to waste any and we called it “liquid gold” I just took one look at your freezer and thought, “You’ve got Fort Knox over there”! Way to go, Megan!!!
PLEASE research Prolacta. They sell their “fortifier” for exorbitant costs. Donate to an actually milk bank. PLEASE!!!!
I just read about it and I was not aware about Prolacta for profit business and I am positive Megan wasnt either. That does not change the fact Megan did a wonderful thing by thinking about others (not that you are saying otherwise).
That being said, it seems to me that is very important to nursing moms willing to donate their liquid gold to try to reach out first to non-profit milk banks to increase the reach of their act of love and selflessness.
No one should feel bad or selfish for donating to a Prolacta milk bank. Prolacta makes another product from human milk, whereas other milk banks dispense the actual milk after it’s been processed. Prolacta is the only company that makes Human Milk Fortifier (HMF) from human milk rather than cow milk. HMF is added to breast milk for NICU preemies that need more calories to grow than what normal breast milk provides. They are indeed for profit because they need to recover costs from all the research and testing they do. If it was the same price as the HMF made by Enfamil(from cow milk), there would be no way to control the demand. The human milk HMF would be preferred over the cow milk HMF, and there aren’t as many human donors as there are cow donors. 😉 They gave $1 to Make A Wish Foundation for every ounce that I donated…that is not selfish. Some of my milk went to this company and some went to a non-profit bank in Texas that dispenses processed human milk only by physician prescription to NICU babies. Either way, the milk was for a great cause (critically ill NICU babies) and I didn’t have to throw it away. 🙂
https://www.milkforwishes.com/ (Prolacta)
http://www.texasmilkbank.org/ (Mothers Milk Bank of North Texas)
This is wonderful! So glad all of that extra milk went to good use and wasn’t thrown out!
Wow that’s awesome
God bless you Megan!
Way to go girl! I adopted a baby girl and I used donated breast milk and a supplemental nursing system to breast feed my baby. She got an awesome start at life and we were able to bond in that way. It was so precious. I was so very thankful to be able to have the donated breast milk. It’s a great thing to do for those of us who need you.
Got tears in my eyes to read this. I had an emergency c-section too and my first son was born as a preemie having pneumonia, so he was sent to NICU in the different Children’s hospital. I couldn’t breastfeed him bc my body couldn’t produce enough milk. That is so wonderful to read about there’s a milk donation. Thank you so much for sharing your story, Megan!!
My son, who just turned 22, was born premature and spent 27 days in a NICU. I was not able to provide breast milk for him the whole time, so he received donated breast milk. It is so wonderful that some of you are able to donate. The breast milk helps these tiny, sick babies thrive.
Beautiful story, its awesome to know that even while u were going through a tough time u still helped other people.
love this story. I’ve donated milk before too to a local mama in my area. Each state should have a FB page/site called HMFHB (Human Milk for Human Babies) and you can connect with other moms there if you want to donate to someone local.
I donated to two different mamas through HM4HB as well. They were so thankful & it made me feel really good to know that milk I worked so hard to bottle would help nourish someone else’s child.
Awesome!!! 🙂
What a wonderful tip to share with us. I hope others follow your lead. Thanks for sharing. CouponTerri.com
That was such a beautiful thing to do. I got teary just reading this.
Wow thats awesome that you were able to pump all that milk.Thanks for sharing.
what a great story!
Megan,
You are a beautiful woman and mother. What a wonderful thing for you to do! So many lives will be touched by your kindness.
That is so wonderful of you to do! My child wasn’t premature (37 weeks) by most standard, but did have to stay in the NICU for four days as a result of NAIT (Neonatial alloimmune thombocytopenia) or very low platelets in the blood, after an urgent c-section. I attempted to BF for 4 very stressful weeks, but my supply never really came in. I would barely get 1/2 oz every 2-4 hours even after weeks of feeding and pumping. I wish I had been able to do what you were able to, but I am so glad that you have chosen to be someone’s milk angel.
Bless you! If I had enough milk, I wanted to donate.
It makes you re-think the old “lemons into lemonaide”, you turned milk into liquid gold! Way to go. Amazing what happens when we want more for others than what we are willing to take for ourselves! Blessings!
Way to go mama! Amazing!
Love it! As a breast feeding momma I know how precious breast milk is! Thank you for donating!
Amazing story. Way to give a part of yourself. My mom did this when my older brother was born (almost 40 years ago). His twin was still born and he was a preemie too. She had a lot to share. Thanks for sharing.
Way to go rocking momma!
I’m currently breastfeeding my 5 month old. What an inspirational story. That was so thoughtful to donate the milk instead of wasting it.
I did the same thing! I had initially heard about donating almost 8 yrs ago when my first son was born 2 months premature due to me having preeclampsia. I was pumping while my son was in the NICU and the nurses were shocked with how much I was producing. It was my first child and was told the supply would eventually dwindle so I didn’t donate. January 2012 my second son was born and again I was producing just as much milk. I looked up donating milk, I qualified and I had donated just over 4,700 ounces of milk. That’s right you read that correctly 4,700oz! I can’t tell you enough how great it feels to know I’ve helped the lives of many little babies in need just by giving them my breast milk. Prolacta Bioscience and the people that work there are amazing people as well. Anyone out there who can donate…I urge you to, you’ll be so glad you did.
As a NICU nurse I can’t tell you how happy this story made me. We use donated milk when a mother can’t produce enough for her premature or sick baby. The medical benefits from feeding breastmilk are astounding. Thank you for your sacrifice!
YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Way to go Megan, you are awesome!!
I too had a preemie and pumped; one way I used up my excess breastmilk (I stored it in a separate freezer “deep freeze”) was saving it for when my babe started on solids, I mixed the breast milk with his cereal, or used it to thin out fruits and veggies that I pureed for him.
awesome!!!
love this story i really wanted to do this but after going to work and all the duties i had to do while working full time i wasnt able to pump as much as i wanted to i think this is great program preemies really need all yhe help they can get….:-)
I have donated 500 ounces to wakeMed in north Carolina. They are wonderful to work with. I feel so good to know the milk is helping those tiny little babies 🙂
I donated at least 4 very large ice chest full of milk but i went through a group called milkshare. you post if you have some and people contact you and you ship it to them. you do have to be careful to make sure they cover the cost but when i read about how much the milk banks charge people i couldn’t give it to them. People were going broke buying from banks. the people i donated to were overly appreciative and i would overnight the milk to them through UPS in an ice chest. i didn’t use dry ice. i couldn’t keep track of how much it was because i had so much. It felt great to help people out. they all had a story about why they needed it. I was just glad i wasn’t throwing it away. I alway say the person who made the statement “don’t cry over spilled milk” was not a breastmilk pumper.