Thursday 8 October 2015

Breastmilk donation!

Breast feeding is a huge part of my life. I was lucky enough to feed E for 2 years and although the journey of breast feeding this time was quite difficult (ill chat about that at a later date) I've stuck with it and now have a happy and healthy 4 month old who enjoys his boobies. He enjoys them so much that I have a few litres in the freezer that i'm not going to get through.

So I searched for an alternate 

Breastmilk donation!!

Unfortunately that was not an easy thing to find in Victoria! I'm not sure what its like in other states, but here there aren't many options for women to donate their breast milk to bubbas who really need it! I had the luxury of doing a placement in a special care nursery and I wish I had the ability to donate to the beautiful tiny babies who's mothers weren't able to establish breastfeeding. 



The options for donation in Victoria are:


The mercy hospital for women fundraised 2 million dollars in 2008 to open a breast milk bank. The breast milk is collected from mothers who have given birth at the hospital, screened and then pasteurised and supplied to the babies within the NICU and SCN in the hospital. Its a fantastic foundation that supplies special little babies with breast milk from mothers who have a surplus!

I unfortunately did not give birth at the Mercy so I was unable to donate


As above, mothers milk bank collects donated breast milk from mothers who have a large supply or excess milk and screens and pasteurises it. They then donate the milk to mothers and babies in need. From mothers unable to feed their babies or mothers trying to establish their breast milk supply, they have milk available! It is the first breast milk bank in Australia that is community based and is a wonderful foundation.

This is how I donated my breast milk and have set up an ongoing donation, meaning I will continue to give them my excess milk to donate to mums and bubs around Victoria


A fantastic Facebook page that is set up for women with breast milk, or mothers seeking breast milk post on the wall and then people are able to donate or receive donations. Im not saying this service is for everyone and I understand that people may be apprehensive about the lack of screening. But if the milk has been correctly stored and looked after and the mother can provide evidence that they aren't suffering from blood borne viruses then its a great alternative to donate your milk!

I am so proud that I was able to donate my milk to a family who truly appreciate it and I look forward to doing it again in the future! 

Have you ever donated your milk? Would you consider it? Would you use donated milk?


With Some Grace

1 comment:

  1. I think this is a great idea, and good on you for thinking of others and helping out :)

    ReplyDelete

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