I was blessed to have an over abundant supply of breast milk when I was nursing my son last year. And when I say over abundant, I really mean it. I was nursing my son 8 times a day for about 20 minutes each time and still pumping an average of 4 oz after every nursing session! Needless to say, we were overflowing with frozen breast milk.
I did the obvious and used some for babysitters, mixed some in with baby food and saved some for nights I wanted to enjoy, ahem, an adult beverage or two. But really, by the time my son was 6 months old we were talking around 700 oz of frozen breast milk!
I looked at my over flowing freezer one day as thought, “What the heck am I going to do with all this breast milk?”
After a cursory glance at the Internet, I realized that many babies in the DFW area were in desperate need of my breast milk.
You heard me right.
I began to research my options. There are great milk donation banks in the area, but I just felt wrong freely giving my breast milk to the bank and them turning around and selling it. (Side note: I know that much of the cost of buying milk from a bank has to do with the background process of sterilizing the milk and making sure it’s safe. I get that. But it still just didn’t feel right for me personally.)
Then I stumbled across something simply fantastic: a Facebook page connecting momma’s right here in Dallas – those that had an abundant amount of breast milk and those that desperately needed breast milk.
I found a sweet momma, Kara, just a few miles north of me who was in search of breast milk for her adopted son. Her story really touched my heart, as adoption is something my husband and I were pursuing. I was able to give her some of my breast milk for her sweet, and ridiculously adorable, baby boy.
The wonderful thing is that our friendship didn’t end there. We’ve stayed connected on Facebook, we’ve seen pictures of each others babies, and I have been able to ask countless questions about their adoption experience as we walk down a similar road.
She graciously agreed to give me some background info as to why accepting a donation of breast milk was right for their family:
1. What was the biggest reason you wanted to give your son breast milk?
Our family has always tried to make healthy choices when it comes to food. I had always known that human breast milk is the perfect food for babies, the perfect balance of proteins, fat, and nutrients, as well as immune-building properties. Had we ever been able to get pregnant and deliver a full-term baby, I would have breast-fed him/her…so why would I want anything different for my adopted child? My sister offered the first batch of pumped milk, and originally my goal was a good three months on breast milk. The milk just kept coming to us, which confirmed we had made the right choice. Would you believe we made it past 1 year on donor breast milk?
2. Did you have any concerns giving your son breast milk from total strangers?
At first, admittedly, I was hesitant to accept milk from strangers. But you have to realize that breast-feeding mothers are committed to health for their own babies, and have recently had prenatal care and testing for anything unhealthy. Also, once you get deeper into the world of donating breast milk, you realize that these women have HUGE hearts and want to do what they can to help.
3. Did you meet any opposition from doctors or nurses about giving him donated breast milk?
The decision to use donor milk for our son was not made lightly. I was timid about mentioning it to family members, for fear of being “lectured” on the dangers of accepting milk from strangers. But, would you believe, not one single person, not even family or doctors, ever spoke an ill word about our choice?
5. What’s one thing you want momma’s with even just few ounces of extra breast milk to know?
Even donating just one bag feeds adoptive or ill babies for a bottle’s worth! Before you consider tossing it, check out milk-sharing networks on Facebook like Eats on Feets Texas or Human milk for Human Babies…or if you want to help NICU babies, check out the process for milk banks! Your liquid gold is something you can do to pay it forward and share good health! And believe you me…those accepting the milk are beyond grateful. To the point where there are no words to show how thankful we really are.
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Love the article, but you’ve just discouraged people from using milk banks and that is a shame. Milk banks find the sickest babies to give the milk to and they’re not “buying” it. The peer to peer groups are great, but most of those babies would be okay on formula. Babies who get the milk from banks are SICK and NEED breast milk to survive. Please consider looking further into the Mothers Milk Bank of North Texas before generalizing and discouraging the use of milk banks.
Kristina, you are absolutely right. Milk banks are a life source for preemie and sick babies. The work they do saves lives every day. It was a very thoughtful and purposeful choice to share my breast milk with an adopted baby. My husband and I explored all our options and what fit best for our family. Additionally for me, I didn’t have the time for additional blood work post c section (and complications afterwards) or the extra money to pay a babysitter so that I could have blood work done. Milk donation is a very personal choice and decision, what’s right for me will certainly not be right for other Momma’s. I mentioned milk banks in my blog post, hopefully other Momma’s with extra breast milk will explore all their options as well before making a decision!
Unfortunately, even in that comment, you are making the milk donation banks sound like a hassle. Yes, you have to get bloodwork done for safety but its very, very simple. Call Quest Diagnostics or go online and make an appointment. They take you back immediately for bloodwork with an appointment. My daughter was sleeping in her moby wrap while I got my blood drawn. If I had other kids, they could have been in a stroller and come back with me. It took all of 3 minutes. 3 minutes!!!! There is no paperwork or anything to worry about because the fabulous ladies at the milk bank set it up for you. And because of my daughter’s severe milk protein/ dairy allergy, the milk I donated (and still donate) was 100% dairy free and not only goes to help the sickest, preemie babies but those with an allergy that can thrive only with dairy-free human milk.
I think it’s excellent to bring awareness to all avenues of how to donate human milk. It’s wonderful to encourage women not to throw away even an ounce…. because every ounce counts!!! For a baby in the NICU, that’s almost a full feeding or two!! Please just don’t discourage donation to a milk bank because you were unable to take a few minutes out of your day to get your blood drawn very quickly and easily.
Also, the Mother’s Milk Bank of North Texas has several drop off locations throughout the metroplex so donating milk is super easy and hassle-free for sure!!
In addition to donating to the milk bank, I was also able to donate milk to a friend’s baby who had a milk protein allergy, and I felt better donating the milk after my bloodwork had been processed anyway. Diseases can be transferred through breastmilk so anyone who accepts donated milk should request that the donor get bloodwork done as well.
Allison, without question milk banks do wonderful work for preemie and sick babies. I am grateful for the work they do in improving and saving the lives of sweet babies. Breast milk donation is a very personal decision, and I am merely sharing my personal decision to donate through a peer to peer website. There were many reasons why we decided to donate through a peer to peer website, but the main reason was that our baby was born almost a month early right in the middle of RSV season. I was not comfortable taking him in public, especially to a lab. Second, I know of several families who needed breast milk because their babies could not tolerate formula and for whatever reason, they could not afford to buy breast milk from a bank (its a case by case basis for insurance companies to cover the cost of breast milk). A donation was the only way they could feed their babies.
Much research and thought was put in to our personal decision to donate my breast milk. I do not think in any way I have diminished the value and necessity of milk banks in savings the lives of babies. I am merely pointing out ways that moms can help other moms. Breast milk donation had not crossed my mind until a friend mentioned. Hopefully other momma’s with extra breast milk will now know they have great options for their surplus of milk!
I’m so glad to see those milk sharing sites mentioned in your post! As a mom of a 29 weeker, I exclusively pumped for months and also ended up with a surplus. I heard of many preemie mamas who desperately wanted to give breast milk to their babies when they left the hospital but the extremely high cost of purchasing that liquid gold was prohibitive. The only place I’d heard of donating was to a milk bank, and it took some Internet digging to find Eats of Feets. I connected with an adopted mama whose little guy became VIOLENTLY ill with every drop of formula. It was so wonderful to share my milk with her and know that she wasn’t paying tons of money for something that I wanted to give her! Additionally, we were completely tied to the house at the height of RSV season, and she brought me breast milk bags saving me any additional cost or headache on top of all the additional time I spent pumping.
I love sharing milk in any way, and it’s exciting for me to know of all the options available to help sweet babes!
Thanks for sharing your story, Laura!
Lauren, what a beautiful thing you did! I wish I had known about peer to peer banks. Even though I worked hard at breastfeeding, my production was very low. My poor babies could not survive on the little milk I produced! Even lactation consultants couldn’t help 🙁
I felt ashamed for my failure to produce, mainly from all the lectures I received for not breastfeeding. I hope other moms with production problems find these peer to peer banks. It sounds like such a supportive community. We moms should really build each other up, not judge each other’s choices.
You are so blessed to have great production. Kudos for you for sharing your milk and your story!
What is the name of the Facebook page; I too have an oversupply and have donated 700 to moms in need and am looking to donate more.