Got Milk? An abundance of human milk, that is…
I am now at the 20 week mark of my pregnancy and due to my changing body and soreness in certain areas, I feel like discussing lactation.
What is HMBANA?
“HMBANA is a non-profit association of donor human milk banks established in 1985 to set standards for and to facilitate establishment and operation of milk banks in North America.”
Who gets the milk?
“HMBANA milk banks process donated human milk primarily for fragile and vulnerable infants to ensure they have an adequate and safe supply of this life-giving and life-sustaining supplement when mother’s own milk is not available.” (http://www.hmbana.org/)
When I donated, I was told my milk went to a 4 year old who had severe digestive issues and needed the milk to survive.
Since I have personal experience with this organization, I’ll write about the process so you can see, it’s really not difficult to do…if you are lactating…a lot!
After the birth of my first child, I for some reason was blessed with a TON (maybe literally) of milk. It could have been because I was pumping non-stop for 9 ½ weeks until my daughter finally latched on or maybe because I had been initially pregnant with twins, but after Mia was born, holy cow, I was the dairy queen. My husband bought a deep freezer because we no longer had any space in our regular refrigerator freezer (nor did my parents or anyone else who was helping us store milk). Anyway, because I knew I would never be able to use all of the milk, I looked into donating it. My friend, Leah, sent me the web address for HMBANA.
The website gives the locations of member milk banks in the United States and Canada. Once you contact the location where you are going to send your milk, it’s a very easy process.
Step One: I chose the non-profit milk bank closest to my area which turned out to be Presbyterian/St. Luke’s in Denver, Colorado. I then did an over-the-phone interview with someone from the bank and received paperwork via mail, necessary for becoming a donor. The paperwork included the need for a blood test, approval from my OB for donating milk as well as my daughter’s pediatrician’s approval.
Step Two: The milk bank sends all of the necessary packaging and labels and pays for the shipping. The only things I had to do were buy the dry ice from the grocery store as well as the storage bags for the milk, pump, and call Fed Ex to pick up the box.
So, I first sent 2 big boxes of milk that I had already stored up and continued to send milk for a few months after that. When I was finished donating milk, I received a letter stating I had donated over 2,000 oz.
The website gives great information about HMBANA services, and includes interesting stuff such as how the milk is pasteurized and distributed. Here is the link:
How can we get involved?
- If you are nursing and have an abundance of milk, check out the website and consider donating your extra milk.
- If you are talking with a friend who has no qualms about sharing the fact that she is a dairy queen and has no more space to store her milk, tell her about HMBANA like my friend Leah told me.
HMBANA: the true milk of human kindness
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