Doing the milk round - How to become a milk donor
Our Milk Bank team have created a comprehensive guide for our new or expectant mothers who would like to start the process of becoming
a breast milk donor for our Women’s Hospital, joining us in our mission to share milk across the UK to support sick babies across our national neonatal systems.
We caught up with Marina and Gayle, our Milk Bank Leads who have been sharing the process of helping sick babies. The Milk Bank team like to stress that ‘your baby comes first’ when encouraging donations as it’s really important that you to prioritise the health of your own little one before generously giving us your milk. Sometimes, your milk supply may not come in until later on or you may only be able to produce enough for your little bundle of joy - which is completely fine. Our supportive teams are here to ensure that you can donate within your limits to keep yourself and your baby comfortable and happy.
How to apply
Step 1 – ‘Express’ your interest
Email or call our Milk Bank services to let them know that you are interested in donating milk. Mums must enrol before their babies are six months old and can donate until your baby reaches 12 months if they so wish.
You can get in touch via email bwc.milk.bank@nhs.net or you can call 0121 335 8245 to speak with one of our colleagues.
Step 2 – Give us the details
Our team will be in touch to request information about you. This involves your postcode, so that we can get our milk bank delivery bikes to you for your first deliveries; your telephone number so that we can reach you; and your babies date of birth to begin with. Before becoming a donor, you must confirm that your baby is under six months old, that you do not smoke, drink more than four units of alcohol per week, take certain medications or have had a blood transfusion in the last four months.
We’ll need to know if you have had any body piercings, tattoos, infertility treatment or acupuncture (non-NHS) over the last 12 months to check your eligibility to provide donations.
Step 3 – Ticking the boxes before we can accept your donations
There is a blood test involved to help us to detect if you have HIV type 1 or type 2, Hepatitis B and C, Human T Lymphotropic Virus type 1 and 2 and Syphilis. If you are also showing signs or if members of your household show signs of having COVID-19, please do not request that our milk delivery bikers visit you for collection. We also like to encourage mums to join us a donor after your baby is over six weeks old as this gives you the time to establish your breastfeeding process. If you then find that you have a surplus of milk, this is the perfect opportunity to donate.
Step 4 – Make some freezer space
You’re already halfway there so make sure that you have enough space in your freezer to store your donor milk. The minimum donation is 2.4 litres within two and a half months. This can be a mixture of either 24 100ml bottles/bags or 48 50ml bottles/bags. We ask mums to store their milk until they are out of space to reduce the number of times our blood bikers come to collect your milk. The ‘Blood Bikers’ are a voluntary service and we want to ensure that their time is utilised to the best of our abilities.
Step 5 – Have a read of our Milk Bank Booklet to learn about expressing your milk.
Ready to start your milk bank donor journey? Be sure to read through our Milk Bank Booklet so that you can learn more about the process of sharing your milk, expressing effectively, and ensuring you have enough for your little bundle of joy.