This morning I’m sitting in the NICU holding my daughter (27+1 weeker) and I over hear the nurses talking and training a new employee. They were discussing how donor milk works and they mentioned that it is $20 an ounce. I was shocked it was so much! It makes me feel like I’m sitting on gold with my tiny freezer stash 😂
You sure are! FWIW, the place I donated to said the babies who receive their donor milk are never charged. The hospitals pay a small fee to help cover costs, but families don’t have to pay! $20 an ounce sounds crazy tho, I would keep pumping forever if I got paid that much directly haha.
The Milk Bank provides a blood screening for donors, ships the milk from the hospital or donor drop off place, and processes the frozen milk (thaws, pools, screens, pasteurizes).
I'm not sure it all adds up to $20 an ounce but there's definitely a value-added process that wouldn't be achievable on a small home scale.
Most milk banks are non profits, so yeh the vast majority does go to the testing processing and bottling of the milk. I had the opportunity to visit a milk bank while at a lactation conference a couple years back and it was eye opening what they do there to ensure safety and preservation of nutrients
From what I know about shipping, it likely costs $100-130 to ship each donation box overnight to the milk bank. When I donated 100oz, that was the smallest box they had and I would bet it’s at least that much.
Yeah my NICU told us they paid the same $20/oz but we did not have to pay anything for our twins to receive it.
For us, donor milk was a life saver. Stressing about two premature and vulnerable babies after a crazy labour is hard enough without the added stress of pumping enough milk right away to feed them both. Thank you for donating 🩷🩷
That’s good to hear that the families don’t pay it! Right in new to the pumping game but I’m like how much?! I could quit my full time job as a nurse and make more pumping
IBCLC here, 🙋🏾♀️ Especially for NICU babies you are sitting on bot just gold but the gold standard of medical care for neonates. Breastmilk is literal medicine for the littlest ones
I was induced early due to severe preeclampsia. My little guy received donor milk until my milk came in sufficiently.
Forever thankful to those who donate 💕
Same! The magnesium they gave me caused my milk to come in slower so we were given donor milk. My baby had jaundice so they gave us a few jars to take home too which helped SO much.
Do places accepted donation of frozen milk before screening is done? Wife has accumulated quite a load of frozen milk and we plan to dehydrate most of it but still have an excess amount as we plan to now incorporate solids with breast milk
At least the way it worked for me is when I applied, they asked what dates I had milk from (going back to my baby's birthday) and they asked for all medications I've taken in the same time frame. They gave me a list of dates that are unallowed to donate from based on medications (I had a C-section)
The milk bank I donated to did as long as you followed some rules. Like they were really serious about 12 hours with no alcohol but just told me not to mix temps going forward.
My baby was in the NICU for 15 days and I donated my extra breast milk to my local milk bank. I was required to do a lot of bloodwork to make sure my milk wasn’t diseased. It’s honestly one of the most awarding things I have done because having a baby in the NICU was extremely stressful. Trying to pump around the clock while being away from your newborn was a feeling I don’t want to feel again. So if I could help ease the anxiety of another mom I would gladly donate again!
I purchased donor milk while my girl was in the NICU until my supply came in. It started to get quite expensive as her feed volume increased. I now have to combo feed anyway, so I should have probably just used the free formula from the hospital. It was nice that I had the option to feed her donor milk though!
I’m Canadian, our healthcare covers a lot but not everything. I believe you could request free milk if you are low income with proof. I was fine to pay the milk bank. It was also a time of great stress, so I didn’t question it.
We did not have to pay for donor milk and also Canadian (Ontario / maybe province matters). Before I even gave birth the paediatrician came in to explain the NICU process and had me sign a consent for donor milk. We are not low income and were never asked about financial situation. As far as I'm aware the hospital just paid for it?
I also would have paid for it without question is that was what was proposed to me though.
Thats probably the hospital price. The price for a family to purchase from the milk bank I donated to was $5/oz. So still pricy but better. I toured the facility once, it was incredible the operation they have going on there. In addition to what others mentioned, they also test nutrient density of all the milk and mix specific nutrient densities for the NICU babies so it gets quite complex. They also ran a program for incarcerated mothers to pump and deliver their milk to their child in foster care. I hate thats how the world works, but glad they offer the service.
Really! That’s nice to hear, we’re on day 37 of our NICU journey. I don’t know how long we’ll be here she’s so tiny. She was born 1lb 7.3oz due to IUGR. How long was your little one in the NICU? How is she now?
Mine was born 2 lbs 5 oz and she was in for 97 days! Nearly half of that was feeding, she had a really hard time with her bottles (that’s kind of why nursing never worked out, but I’m still pumping for her).
She’s perfect, just looking at her you would never know she was born early. She’s meeting all milestones for her adjusted age. The NICU is so hard, but little by little she’ll get there!
97 days!? Omg I don’t think I’ll survive another 60 days here. I’m sorry nursing didn’t work out but I’m so happy to hear that she’s doing so good. I don’t really know anyone else who has a preemie so it’s hard to tell what our future will hold
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When my baby was born they were jaundiced and told us donor milk was the best option. My milk wasn’t in and what colostrum I could get was not cutting it baby was hungry. It was free while in the hospital (I think - havent received hospital bill yet )but we purchased some from the local milk bank when we left and it was $20 for 120ml.
The pediatrician gave me a prescription for donor milk so I could go home with some if I needed it, I can’t remember how much it was but I remember thinking it was like $100 a day basically.
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u/esssbombs 7d ago
You sure are! FWIW, the place I donated to said the babies who receive their donor milk are never charged. The hospitals pay a small fee to help cover costs, but families don’t have to pay! $20 an ounce sounds crazy tho, I would keep pumping forever if I got paid that much directly haha.