Donor Milk

Purpose:

Assist mothers to breastfeed and maintain lactation should they face challenges including separation from their infants.

(Step 5 of 10 in the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding)

& Support mothers to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months, unless supplements are medically indicated.

(Step 6 of 10 in the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding)

World Health Organization/UNICEF recommends that human infants should receive nutrition in the following order of priority:

  • Mother’s milk while at the breast

  • Mother’s expressed breast milk (EBM)

  • Donor human milk

  • Milk from another source such as a cow (formula), goat, donkey, camel, or other mammal or milk from a plant (soy)

Human Milk Banking Association of North America

hmbna.org

  • The Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) is a professional association for supporters of non-profit donor human milk banking.

  • HMBANA promotes the health of babies and mothers through the provision of safe pasteurized donor milk and support of breastfeeding.

    HMBANA values clinical excellence, ethical practice, community education, and research for the purpose of ensuring that all individuals with a medical need for it have access to pasteurized donor human milk.

HMBANA was established in 1985, drawing together representatives of donor milk banks and members of the medical community.

Baby in a stroller looking up at the caregiver and drinking from a bottle.

NorthernStar Mothers Milk Bank

www.northernstarmilkbank.ca

In 2012, Calgary Mothers Milk Bank, was launched as the only community-based milk bank in Canada. Since then the milk bank has experienced outstanding growth, with the donor-base, available milk supply and in their work across Canada Renamed the NorthernStar Mother’s Milk Bank in 2015, this charitable organization continues to  provide the benefits of pasteurized human milk to premature and fragile babies.

Milk Drops have opened in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to accommodate the collection of milk from donor mothers in these provinces.

To find a Milk Drop near you, please call the NorthernStar Mother’s Milk Bank at: (403) 475-6455

Black and white image of a baby drinking from a bottle and holding the hand of their caregiver.

Milk Drops have opened in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to accommodate the collection of milk from donor mothers in these provinces.

To find a Milk Drop near you, please call the NorthernStar Mother’s Milk Bank at: (403) 475-6455

Cover of the Peer- to-Peer Milk Sharing Document. A woman snuggling a sleeping baby

Peer-to-Peer Milk Sharing

Informal (Peer-to-Peer) Milk Sharing: The Use of Unpasteurized Donor Human Milk.

Practice Resource for Health Care Providers