Second-time Mum donates to the milk bank to help neonatal babies
Second-time Mum Jodie recently signed up to donate excess breast milk to the Birmingham Women’s milk bank, after first hearing about the milk bank through social media.
Jodie, from Burntwood, has just had her second daughter, and after seeing a post on social media, decided to see if she could help by donating excess breast milk.
She said: “A few friends of mine had shared a post online from the Women’s Hospital saying they were running low and were in desperate need of new donors, so I decided to see if I could help.
“I’d never heard of the milk bank before, and I didn’t even know you could donate breast milk, but as soon as I found out about it, I knew I wanted to see if I could help donate.
“I feel so lucky that both of my two children have been healthy and have never needed donor breast milk or additional care, so the idea that what I’m doing just in my spare time at home might be going to help a family in a potentially difficult situation is just amazing.”
The milk bank at Birmingham Women’s Hospital provides donor breast milk to our own neonatal babies, as well as to other hospitals, and offers donor milk to support mothers who are still establishing their own milk supply or are unable to breastfeed for whatever reason.
After seeing the post on social media asking for more donors due to low supply, Jodie got in touch with the milk bank team, and the next day had heard back from them with more information.
She added “The whole process so far has been easy; I emailed the team and the very next day I heard back from them with a form to fill in and some more information.
“They also sent me some sterilised bottles through the post that I could fill from home and said that once I filled them to get in touch and they’d arrange for them to be collected too.”
Despite having two young children, with her youngest being just two months old, Jodie has been able to add in filling in the bottles into her already busy routine.
She said “I feel so privileged that for both of my children I’ve been able to breastfeed, because I know that it’s not something every mum is able to do, and to be able to breastfeed alongside donating is a really great thing to be able to do.
“Filling the bottles and breastfeeding my daughter at the same time has been easy.
“The bottles are only 100ml each, and I’ve been able to just top them up and put them in the freezer until I’ve got enough.
“So, if anyone is concerned that they may not have enough excess supply to become a donor, it may not be as much of a problem as they think. The whole process has been much easier than I thought it would be.
Jodie is encouraging any other new mums or people breastfeeding to donate and spoke about her reasons.
She said: “We never know what the future holds, and if I am ever in the position where donor breast milk is needed for my baby, I
know I would be extremely grateful that it is available and provided by the hospital.
“It doesn’t cost me any money at all, and the process has been straightforward and easy to do too.
“If anyone is worried about the time aspect, I’d say that it’s easy to fit into a busy schedule. And if you’re breastfeeding and already have the pumping equipment, why not help out if you can.
“I’ll definitely be suggesting this to all my friends if they’re in the position to help, and I'd encourage anyone else to do the same.”
If you’re interested in donating breast milk or would like to find out more, you can visit the milk bank page https://bwc.nhs.uk/human-milk-bank or get in touch with the team on bwc.milk.bank@nhs.net .