Whats Involved In Donating Breastmilk?
To be a breastmilk donor you need to be healthy, not anaemic or otherwise nutritionally deprived. You mustn’t have any contagious diseases. You will need to provide evidence of being clear of HIV, hepatitus and some other diseases. Ideally you shouldn’t have a cold or any infections when donating, but you can ask the milkbank to be sure. Usually, if you are healthy enough to feed your own baby, you are healthy enough to donate some milk for others. The milk is collected by milk banks and used for premature babies. Although a nutritional solution can be given to meet most of a premature baby’s needs, mother’s milk seems to be magical for them and greatly reduces the chances of ill effects due to the prematurity. In the areas close to milk banks a collection service may be provided. Otherwise you will have to freeze the milk and take it to the bank yourself. Some banks may require that your own baby is under a certain age (3 or 6 months). See the Milk Bank website for more information.
