New mum Rebecca donated 55.1 litres of breast milk after signing up to be a donor
New mum Rebecca has donated 55.1 litres to the milk bank Birmingham Women’s Hospital, after she signed up to become a milk bank donor.
Rebecca, from Loughborough, decided to sign up after she had her first child, Charlie, after finding out about the milk bank online.
She said: “I have a vague memory of someone telling me about it a long time ago, but by the time I had Charlie I’d forgotten about it.
“After Charlie was born, I found that I had some excess milk and didn’t know what to do with it.
“I decided to have a search online and found out about the milk bank at the Women’s Hospital and signed up to be a donor when Charlie was six weeks old.”
Initially, Rebecca struggled to breast feed, and the idea that she’d be helping others who couldn’t breast feed was one of the factors in helping her sign up.
She added: “When Charlie was first born, I did really struggle to breast feed.
“It’s something that I just assumed was going to come naturally and I feel so grateful that it did eventually happen, but I really empathise with anyone who struggled or couldn’t breast feed.
“Because of this, I decided to use my excess milk to do some good and donate it, so that mums and parents who can't breast feed for whatever reason can get some use from it.”
As Rebecca lived in Loughborough, the milk bank at the Women’s Hospital was the closest one, and the blood bikers agreed that they would come to collect the milk from her once every month.
Rebecca said: “The whole process was really easy.
“I was expressing anyway so that my husband could feed Charlie and any excess bottles we had we just put in the freezer until the blood bikers came to collect them.
“From start to finish, I was just amazed at how easy the process was.”
Rebecca donated milk to the milk bank for a year, and in that time managed to donate 55.1 litres.
She has also advocated for other mums that she knows to sign up and donate what they can to the milk bank too.
Rebecca added: “I’ve spoken about the milk bank to as many mums as I can, and I spoke about it in a few of the baby groups we were in.
“A lot of the mums hadn’t heard of the service and didn’t even know it was a possibility to donate breast milk, but everyone has been so positive about it.
"I'd recommend anyone to sign up for the milk bank, it's such an easy thing to do and the idea that you're potentially helping babies and families in need really makes it so much better."
If you're interested in donating breast milk or would like to find out more, you can visit the milk bank page or get in touch with the team on bwc.milk.bank@nhs.net