Milk Tips for Donors
So your Liquid Gold can be used!
Our priorities are milk safety and quality. Our batches are made with great care with attention to detail. Maintaining safety and quality of the milk are the standard from the first moment we talk to a prospective donor, to the time it is dispensed to hospitals and medically fragile babies. These tips will help to ensure that your donation will be used to help save more lives of babies in need.
On behalf of the Milk Bank staff, thank you so much for your gift and for helping us to achieve our mission!
10 Easy Tips To Ensure Your Milk Can Be Used
The following tips will help to ensure the use of your donation in our batches. Premature babies in the NICU face more challenges than full-term healthy babies and because it is such a critical time different precautions are taken. Thank you!
Milk that has been in the freezer for eight months or less can be donated once the donor screening process is finished. Milk donation can occur if:
- Milk is stored in single-use, sterile breast milk pump bags or bottles
- We do not accept milk stored in glass jars, ice cube/milk trays, zip bags or containers not intended for breast milk storage
- Each bag or bottle is dated with the date the milk was pumped
- Do not combine different pumping sessions from different dates
- Do not mix temperatures when combining milk (only mix cooled milk with cooled milk)
- Milk is frozen within 4 days (less than 24 hours preferred) of pumping
- Milk is not scalded/heated before freezing or thawed and then re-frozen
- It does not contain restricted medication or alcohol
- Pump parts have been cleaned using hot, soapy water after each use
Learn how to keep your breast pump kit clean (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
We can only accept:
- Milk stored in pump bags or bottles (we do not accept milk frozen in zip bags or milk frozen in ice trays).
- Milk that is pumped up to the baby’s first birthday.
Thank you for helping us keep this very special baby food safe!
More questions? Please contact us at donatemilk@mnmilkbank.org or at 763-546-1865 to speak with a donor coordinator.
